MAPLETON; 


O^^V  ¥  f"  I   1  (VA'Y         *  I/X 

<wl0rh  for  iljc  Jwanu 


"The  Inw  vrhioh  restrains  a  man  from  doing  mischief  to  his  fellow-citizens,  thoudi  it 
diminish  the  natural,  increases  the  civil,  liberty  of  mankind."  —  BLACKSTOXB. 


SECOND     EDITION. 


BOSTON: 

JENKS,  HICKLING  AND  SWAN, 
1853. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  In  the  year  1853,  by 

JENKS,  IIICKLINQ  &   SWAN, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  BT 
HOBABT    k    BOBBINS, 

HKW  ISQI.AND  TYPB  AND  8TEREOTTP8   POUNDERT 
BOSTON. 


PREFACE 


THE  parabolic  and  dramatic  style  is  as  old  as  literature.  It  was  adopted 
by  Him  who  had  lessons  of  highest  import  to  impart  ;  because  truth  in 
action  is  far  more  effective  than  truth  in  abstraction.  Humanity  in  the 
story  of  the  good  Samaritan,  and  penitence  in  that  of  the  Prodigal  Son, 
touch  the  heart  as  they  could  not  in  the  most  finished  disquisition. 

Those  who  brand  every  book  of  the  kind  as  a  novel,  in  an  offensive 
sense,  are  at  war  with  the  constitution  of  our  nature.  This  form  of  litera- 
ture meets  an  instinctive' want,  which  must  be  met  in  some  way,  —  if  not 
with  sentiments  to  enlighten,  enlarge  and  ennoble,  then  with  those  to 
weaken,  wither  and  debase.  Instead  of  carping  against  light  literature, 
it  were  better  to  charge  it  with  truths  and  influences  purifying,  profound 
and  enduring,  and  send  it  abroad  on  a  mission  of  love  to  mankind.  The 
evil  is  not  in  the  use,  but  in  the  abuse. 

Not  the  rocks,  mountains,  and  valleys  of  Greece,  nor  the  physical 
scenery  of  England,  has  made  it  what  it  is  in  the  world  of  mind  ;  but  the 
creations  of  genius  by  which  it  is  adorned.  So,  till  a  national  literature 
of  our  own  has  cast  its  diviner  hues  upon  our  scenery,  not  even  Niagara 
can  rise  to  its  proper  position  in  the  regards  of  mankind. 

This  work  is  a  draught  upon  materials  which  have  been  some  years 
accumulating,  in  the  author's  endeavor  to  form  a  style  coincident  with 
the  habits  and  sympathies  of  the  living  age.  The  didactic  and  abstract, 
much  as  he  might  prefer  them,  are  not  the  weapons  for  a  steam  and  light- 
ning movement.  If  the  mountain  will  not  come  to  Mahomet,  why,  then, 
Mahomet  must  go  to  the  mountain.  If  witches  can  only  be  shot  with 
silver,  what  is  the  use  of  firing  lead  ?  Are  any  grieved  that  the  age  will 
not  bear  elaborate  writing,  "  I  more  ; "  but  who  is  able  to  fight  against 
destiny  ? 

This  story  is  not  so  extraordinary  as  the  facts  which  it  adumbrates. 
The  caricature  is  not  here,  but  in  real  life.  Had  the  author's  sketches 
reached  the  extreme  limit  of  history,  they  would  have  lacked  the  essential 
requisite  of  an  air  of  credibility. 

"  A  love-story  on  so  grave  a  theme  !  —  is  this  admissible  ?  "  This  objec- 
tion the  author  can  better  meet  than  vouch  for  his  tact  in  managing  so 


2090709 


IV  PREFACE. 

delicate  a  subject.  It  is  only  in  the  social  relations  of  a  drunkard's  chil- 
dren that  the  injury  to  them  fully  appears.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
those  who  are  born  to  a  higher  destiny  than  their  unfortunate  domestic 
connections  will  permit  them  to  reach.  They  are  eaglets  with  plucked 
plumage  and  broken  wing,  falling  prone  from  their  native  sphere.  0, 
the  pangs  and  tears  thus  extorted  are  too  deep,  too  intense,  too  profuse,  for 
pen  or  pencil ! 

The  work  is  a  humble  contribution  to  a  great  reform  in  morals  and 
legislation.  The  profounder  depths  of  the  subject  have  not  been  reached, 
much  as  has  been  spoken  and  written  in  the  temperance  reformation. 
The  alcoholic  currents  flow  deep  down  under  forms  of  religious  manifesta- 
tion, under  inspirations  of  genius,  under  legislative,  diplomatic  and  judicial 
agencies,  under  military  prowess  and  valor,  under  hereditary  disease  and 
degeneracy,  yea,  under  all  the  interests  of  humanity  ;  nor  have  they  yet 
fully  gushed  forth  through  any  of  the  openings  of  a  vastly  accumulated 
temperance  literature.  We  see  them  not,  we  heed  them  not.  The  hissings 
and  convolutions  of  the  many-headed  dragon  have  been  described  ;  but  the 
venom  which  he  infuses  into  the  sources  of  our  blood,  into  the  atmosphere 
of  thought  and  sentiment,  and  into  all  the  subtler  elements  of  life,  what 
painter  can  depict,  what  author  or  orator  describe  ? 

Two  hundred  years  of  legislation  against  drunkenness  have  accomplished 
comparatively  little.  Everywhere,  under  our  old  license  laws,  its  seduc- 
tive madness  may  be  indulged  in  for  a  few  cents.  Had  the  liquor  traffic 
been  as  free  as  that  of  corn,  cloth  or  cotton,  drunkenness  would  have  been 
scarcely  easier  or  cheaper. 

What  is  to  be  done  ?  Shall  we  leave  the  traffic  to  its  course,  or  control 
it  by  stringent  legislation  ?  If  left  to  its  course,  or  to  the  present  licensed 
causes  of  crime,  humanity  requires  a  kindlier  provision  for  those  who  are 
thus  made  criminal  than  prisons,  penitentiaries,  poor-houses  and  the 
hangman's  rope.  Far  better  that  the  power  now  exerted  in  licensing  the 
temptation  should  exercise  its  undoubted  prerogative  in  prohibiting, 
under  stringent  and  prompt  penalties,  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks  as 
a  beverage. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    NOCTURNAL  SCENE  — A  GREAT  DANGER, 1 

IL    THE  GROGGERY— A  GREATER  DANGER, 14 

III.    IT  IS  A  FEARFUL  NIGHT, 23 

IV.    THE  NEW  HOME, 3T 

V.    A  TOWN  WITHOUT  ALCOHOL, 51 

VI.    THE  OUTPOSTS  OF  THE  ENEMY  AT  LENGTH  APPEAR, 61 

VII.    THE  ENEMY  ENTERS  AT  LAST, 81 

VIII.    ALCOHOL  AND  RELIGION, 91 

IX.  THE  ALCOHOLIC  TRAFFIC  REACHES  A  CRISIS  IN  MAPLETON,   .  103 

X.    THE  DESPAIR  AND  HOPE  OF  A  DRUNKARD'S  SON, 121 

XI.  THE  INIQUITY  OF  A  FATHER  VISITED  UPON  THE  SON,     ....  136 

XH.    CONSERVATISM  OF  THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC, 168 

Xm.    WINE  AND  WITCHCRAFT, 183 

XIV.    THE  FORCES  RECONNOITRING, 195 

XV.    BLUDGEON  FIGHTING  THE  DEVIL, 214 

XVL    LOVE  BETTER  THAN  DENUNCIATION, 231 

XVII.    WOMAN'S  MISSION, 242 

XVm.    HIGH  LIFE  BELOW  STAIRS, 255 

XIX.    THE  DYING  CONFESSION, 265 

XX.    THE  SKAMPTON  MILL  GRINDING  INFLUENCE, 27? 

XXI.    THE  PLOT  THICKENS, 292 

1* 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  ,                                                                                                               1MGB 

XXII.    DUBIOUS  PRESENTIMENTS 304 

XYTTT.    EXCURSION  TO  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  WYOMING, 314 

XXIV.    WAR  TO  THE  KNIFE, 326 

XXV.  TO  THE  WESTWARD,  HO!— THE  MISTAKE  DISCOVERED,    .  .  .  343 

XXVI.    ANOTHER  TRAGEDY  IN  MAPLETON, 358 

XXVII.    A  LEAP  FROM  THE  SUBLIME  TO  THE  RIDICULOUS, 370 

XXVIII.    A  DIVINE  RIGHT  TO  DO  WRONG, 384 

XXIX.    MISS  HARCOURT'S  ADVENTURES, 393 

XXX.    TO  THE  RESCUE, 407 

XXXI.    THE  VICTORY, 419 


MAPLETON; 


OB, 

MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW. 


CHAPTER   I. 

NOCTURNAL  SCENE  —  A   GREAT  DANGER. 

"  As  monumental  bronze  unchanged  his  look,  — 
A  soul  that  pity  touched,  but  never  shook  ; 
Trained,  from  his  tree-rocked  cradle  to  his  bier, 
The  fierce  extremes  of  good  and  ill  to  brook 
Impassive  —  fearing  but  the  shame  of  fear  — 
A  stoic  of  the  woods  —  a  man  -without  a  tear."  —  CAMPBELL. 

"Mr  dear  Charles,"  said  Mrs.  Douglass,  "how.have  you 
been,  since  you  left  us?"  £* 

"  Been,  mother !  "  replied  the  boy,  witlTan  effort  to  laugh 
in  spite  of  his  tears,  "  been  as  well  as  I  could." 

"  Why  do  you  weep,  my  son?  " 

"  I  do  not  weep,  do  I?  "  said  the  boy,  forcing  his  ruddy 
face  into  a  reluctant  laugh.  "What  a  great  country, 
mother  !  noble  trees  ! ; ' 

"And  fine  roads,  too,"  added  Mr.  Douglass,  forcing  his 
horses  through  a  deep  slough,  which  Charles,  essaying  to  do 
with  his  team,  got  fast  in  the  mud. 

"Ho,  there,  men!"  cried  Mr.  Douglass;   "bring  your 


8  MAPLETON;    OR, 

levers,  seize  a  rail, —  anything  to  help  this  boy  out  of  the 
mire." 

"  He,  ho,  heave  !  —  he,  ho,  heave !  —  all  together, —  now 
again  try  it!  he,  ho,  heave!''  cried  a  dozen  voices,  while 
crack,  crack,  went  the  whip,  urging  the  tired  horses  to  their 
utmost  endeavors,  so  that  with  difficulty  at  length  the 
wagon  was  lifted  out  of  the  slough. 

Here  began  the  migrating  sorrows  of  the  Douglass  fam- 
ily. All  before  had  been  mere  anticipation.  This  begins 
the  rugged  reality  of  an  outcast  life,  remote  from  the  scenes 
of  other  years,  driven  out  by  the  demon  of  intemperance, 
which  still  haunted  them  with  fears  and  forebodings  for  the 
future,  as  it  had  robbed  them  in  the  past  of  all  that  the 
heart  holds  most  dear.  Charles  had  left  his  native  place  in 
full  glee.  The  journey  and  new-country  life  were  full  of 
excitement  to  his  ardent  imagination.  He  and  his  fellow- 
teamsters  had  started  the  goods  a  few  days  in  advance  of  the 
family,  whose  lighter  vehicle  and  fleeter  horses  had  over- 
taken them  at  this  point.  They  had  just  descended  a  steep 
hill  to  the  level  of  the  country  below, —  a  country  stretching 
off  to  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  where  it  bordered  on  one  of 
the  great  western  lakes,  and,  at  the  time  of  which  we  arc 
speaking,  was  covered  with  a  forest  of  unusual  density.  It 
was  a  forest  which  began  at  this  point  to  be  interspersed 
with  an  enormous  growth  of  evergreens,  beneath  which  day 
was  always  dusky,  and  night  gloomy  and  hideous. 

"  Charles,  my  child,"  said  Mrs.  Douglass,  after  they  had 
passed  the  slough,  "  I  fear  you  are  not  so  happy  in  moving 
as  you  expected." 

"  0,  mother  ! "  replied  the  boy,  "  I  never  saw  such  times 
as  these.  It  seems  to  me  our  old  hencoop  is  pleasanter  than 
any  house  I  have  seen  since  I  left  home." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  9 

_< 

"  Where  did  you  sleep  last  night,  Charles  ?"  inquired  his 
father. 

"We  staid  at  Beach's,  on  the  Ilissus,  which  was  so 
thronged  with  emigrants  that  we  felt  ourselves  fortunate 
to  find  a  plank  apiece  to  sleep  on." 

"  The  Ilissus  !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Douglass  ;  "pray  where 
did  you  get  that  name  ?  Beach  keeps  on  Mud  Creek." 

"  Beach  himself  told  me,  with  much  pride,"  said  Charles, 
"  that  his  was  the  oldest  tavern-stand  west  of  the  Cayahoga, 
and  that  it  gloried  in  a  location  on  the  flowery  banks  of  the 
famed  Ilissus."  At  this,  father,  mother  and  son,  broke 
forth  into  uproarious  laughter,  in  spite  of  their  gloomy  con- 
dition. 

"Beach  has  a  classic  imagination,"  said  Mr.  Douglass, 
"  to  convert  the  miserable  fever-and-ague  hole  on  which  he 
lives  into  so  renowned  a  stream  ;  it  will  make  the  old  Attic 
poets  mutter  in  their  graves.  That  will  be  a  fine  story  for 
Harry,  when  you  see  him  again." 

"Well,  there  is  one  good  thing,"  said  Mrs.  Douglass; 
"  Beach  keeps  a  temperance  house." 

"How  did  you  leave  Harry?"  inquired  Charles,  begin- 
ning to  weep  again,  at  the  mention  of  this  most  intimate  of 
his  school  companions. 

"  Cheer  up,  my  son  !  "  said  Mr.  Douglass. 

"  Cheer  up,  father !  "  rejoined  Charles,  still  determined 
to  get  the  better  of  his  home-sick  feelings. 

"  Good-by,  Charley,  —  good-by,  Charley,  —  good-by  ! " 
cried  the  younger  children,  as  their  father  plied  the  whip, 
and  left  their  eldest  brother  behind  to  the  bitterness  of  his 
own  solitary  reflections. 

Though  other  teams  were  in  advance  of  Charles,  he  was 
the  sole  occupant  of  his  own  in  bringing  up  the  rear.  It  was 


10  MAPLETON;    OR, 

near  sundown,  and  five  or  six  miles  of  the  worst  road  ever 
travelled  remained,  before  reaching  the  inn  where  they  pro- 
posed to  pass  the  night.  The  intervening  forest  was  almost 
unbroken,  in  which  the  darkness  soon  became  so  profound 
that  he  could  not  see  his  hand  before  his  face.  Here  the 
wild  beasts  had  their  lair,  and  held  nocturnal  revels.  Here 
the  hideous  howling  of  wolves,  with  the  humdrum  sound 
of  the  hedge-hog  from  his  hollow  tree,  and  a  thousand  dismal 
voices,  as  of  ghosts  stalking  in  the  gloom  profound,  soon 
opened  upon  Charles  a  scene  of  fearfulness  and  terror  of 
which  his  susceptible  imagination  took  an  impression  never 
to  be  effaced.  Dolefully  crept  his  team  along  over  the  cor- 
duroy bridges  and  through  the  splashing  mud-holes,  follow- 
ing the  leading  of  a  lamp  carried  by  the  one  at  the  head  of 
the  defile.  Thoughts  of  the  past  and  of  the  future  troubled 
the  poor  boy's  mind.  He  saw  the  lines  of  sorrow  in  his 
mother's  face  as  she  passed  him,  and  it  went  to  his  heart. 
He  knew  how  good  and  noble  his  father  was  by  nature,  but 
how  sadly  fallen  through  the  seductive  habits  of  fashionable 
society.  He  had  drank  as  a  gentleman,  till  it  ended  in  his 
drinking  as  a  sot.  He  had  stood  in  the  highest  rank  of  society, 
till  what  was  deemed  honorable  to  his  position  had  brought 
him  to  the  lowest,  and  sunk  him  and  his  family  in  the  slough 
of  poverty  and  disgrace.  He  had  reformed,  it  is  true ;  but 
too  late  to  recover  caste  in  the  cherished  home  of  his  ances- 
tors, and  was,  therefore,  driven  to  seek  it  in  distant  emigra- 
tion. Charles  was  old  enough  to  realize  the  cause  of  his 
family's  misfortunes  ;  and  now  it  preyed  upon  his  mind,  and 
added  to  the  pain  of  his  dark  and  dismal  journey. 

At  length,  his  horses  came  to  a  dead  stand.  He  plied  his 
whip,  goaded,  coaxed,  and  scolded  them,  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose. His  manly  feelings  repelled  the  idea  of  betraying  fear 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.         11 

by  calling  for  help.  He  dismounted,  to  lighten  the  burden 
and  give  him  greater  command  of  his  dispirited  horses  ;  but 
still  the  immobility  of  a  stone  held  them  dead  in  their  tracks. 
He  now  lifted  up  his  voice  to  the  men  with  all  his  might;  but 
it  was  too  late, —  he  could  not  make  himself  heard.  What  to 
do  he  did  not  know ;  and  yet  his  courage  was  roused  to  the 
utmost,  having  increased  with  his  increasing  cause  of  fear. 
But  his  danger  was  greater  than  he  knew  ;  for  near  him,  on 
an  uprooted  tree  which  lay  on  a  superincumbent  mass  of 
underbrush  several  feet  above  the  ground,  a  panther,  the 
fiercest  of  feline  animals,  was  pacing  to  and  fro.  His  eyes 
shone  in  the  darkness  like  balls  of  fire.  Charles  saw 
them,  though  not  with  much  alarm,  because  he  knew  not 
their  nature,  supposing  it  to  be  phosphorescence ;  and  yet  the 
motion  seemed  to  him  strange  and  unaccountable.  The 
monster  crept  slowly  along  on  his  downy  feet  to  the  point  of 
the  tree  nearest  his  victim,  where  he  "  sat  squat  like  a 
toad,"  with  an  excited  motion  of  the  tail,  such  as  is  common 
in  this  species  of  animals  as  they  are  about  to  pounce  upon 
their  prey.  Charles  was  now  more  alarmed,  and  called 
lustily  for  help,  though  he  was  not  aware  of  the  imminence 
of  his  danger,  nor  did  escape  seem  possible,  had  he  known 
it  ever  so  well.  No  response  was  given  to  his  call,  and  there 
the  poor  fellow  stood  in  the  very  jaws  of  death,  under  the 
impenetrable  curtain  of  night's  deepest  gloom,  in  the  bosom 
of  a  howling  wilderness. 

0,  horrible !  Alas,  to  what  straits  are  innocent  children 
reduced  by  the  recreant  habits  of  parents  !  Measuring  with 
his  burning  eyes  the  distance,  the  monster  gathered  up  all 
his  mighty  strength  for  a  fierce  and  unfailing  leap  upon  the 
boy's  throat,  and  then  darted  like  lightning  towards  him. 
when,  lo  !  a  flash  lighted  up  the  gloom,  a  gun  exploded,  and 


12  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

he  heard  at  his  feet  a  heavy  fall,  with  hissing,  bounding, 
snarling,  gurgling  blood  spirting  in  his  face,  and  all  the  signs 
of  a  feline  animal  in  the  agonies  of  death.  Before  he  had 
time  to  collect  his  thoughts,  all  at  once  a  torch  flamed  up, 
revealing  a  tall,  yellow  man,  with  tattooed  features,  and  the 
cut  rims  of  his  ears  hanging  pendent,  with  coal-black  eyes, 
and  a  horrid  mien.  It  was  an  Indian,  who  was  reposing  for 
the  night  on  a  couch  of  evergreens  after  the  fatigue  of  the 
chase,  and  who,  awakened  by  the  loud  outcry  of  the  boy,  had 
caught  sight  of  the  panther's  flaming  eyes  just  in  season  to 
level  his  trusty  rifle  and  pierce  him  through  the  head  at  the 
instant  of  his  leap,  so  that  he  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of  his 
victim.  Charles  had  never  seen  an  Indian  before ;  and  now 
to  meet  one  at  such  a  time,  and  under  such  circumstances, 
made  the  blood  leap  through  his  veins  with  accelerated  force, 
and  the  agony  of  an  imaginary  danger  was  far  greater  than 
the  real  one  which  he  had  just  escaped.  When  the 
savage,  with  his  blazing  torch,  moved  towards  him,  he  was 
almost  beside  himself  with  fear. 

The  guttural  articulation  of  sounds  which  he  could  not 
understand  would  have  greatly  increased  his  fears,  had  not 
the  motions  and  signs  of  the  Indian  soon  assured  him  that 
under  his  hideous  appearance  lurked  only  kindly  intentions. 
He  explored  with  his  torch  the  nature  of  the  boy's  trouble, 
and  set  himself  to  the  task  of  relieving  him  the  best  way  he 
could.  By  this  time  the  men  with  the  forward  teams,  having 
missed  their  youthful  charge,  had  reached  the  scene  of  action ; 
and,  after  a  due  amount  of  astonishment  at  what  had  hap- 
pened, they  proceeded  to  whip  up  the  partially  rested  horses 
to  an  endeavor  towards  progress. 

The  Indian,  whose  name  was  Canaudeh,  was  the  only  relic 
of  a  tribe  which  had  perished  in  the  all-consuming  fires  of 


MORE    WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  13 

alcohol.  He  himself  had  been  in  the  last  stages  of  the  same 
infatuation ;  but,  coming  to  a  sense  of  his  danger,  and 
agonized  by  the  death  of  his  kindred,  had  resolved,  with  savage 
firmness,  never  to  taste  another  drop  of  the  poison,  and  thus 
had  survived  as  the  monument  of  an  unwritten  temperance 
pledge.  He  now  roamed,  a  solitary  hunter,  over  those  wilds 
which,  as  the  chief  of  his  tribe,  he  had  once  ruled  with  regal 
power.  Thus  rum's  victims  from  the  two  extremes  of 
civilized  and  uncivilized  life  had  met,  in  the  persons  of  the 
boy  and  the  savage,  and  under  circumstances  of  darkness  and 
danger  suited  to  their  own  sad  experience  from  this  bane  of 
society.  There  grew  up,  after  this,  a  mutual  interest  between 
the  two,  which  made  them  sharers  in  some  of  the  events 
we  are  now  to  record. 

Onward  the  emigrant  wagons  trundled ;  over  roots,  over 
logs,  through  mud  and  through  water,  compounded  into  a 
bottomless  chaos  ;  heaving,  pitching,  rolling,  tossing, —  man 
and  beast,  as  it  .were,  dead  with  fatigue,  and  seeking  their 
entombment  in  the  inn  and  its  stables  to  await  the  resurrec- 
tion of  brighter  day. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    GROGGERY  —  A    GREATER    DANGER. 

"  Drink  and  be  mad,  then,  —  'tis  your  country  bids  ! 
Gloriously  drunk,  obey  the  important  call ! 
Her  cause  demands  the  assistance  of  your  throats; 
Ye  all  can  swallow,  and  she  asks  no  more." — COWPER. 

THE  inn  was   a   plain   building,  partly   log  and    partly 
framed,  or  an  original  forest-cabin,  bought  out  by  a  wealthier 


14  MAPLETON;    OB, 

proprietor,  and  wedded  to  a  framed  building  in  white  paint, 
presenting  the  contrast  of  Othello  and  Desdemona.  The 
bar  was  in  the  black  or  devil's  part,  as  it  was  called,  directly 
adjoining  the  parlor  in  the  framed  building ;  a  common  atmos- 
phere of  rum  and  tobacco  exhalations  and  fetid  breaths,  per- 
vading both  rooms  alike,  as  the  door  between  the  two  was 
ever  on  the  swing.  In  one  side  of  the  bar-room  was  a 
genuine  log-cabin  fireplace,  with  stone  wall  without  jamb  or 
mantel-piece,  reclining  against  the  logs,  and  surmounted  by  a 
chimney  made  of  sticks  and  mud,  in  the  form  of  a  tunnel, 
with  the  little  end  upward,  serving  the  three-fold  purpose  of 
funnel,  ventilator,  and  skylight.  The  hearth  was  the  house- 
hold sewer,  to  which  the  disgusting  overflowings  of  rum  and 
tobacco  found  their  way.  The  bar  itself  was  a  strong  enclosure 
of  boards  and  lattice-work,  from  which  issued  an  incessant 
stream  of  poison,  carrying  madness  to  the  mind,  disease  and 
death  to  the  body,  and  poverty  and  woe  to  families. 

One  of  the  best  apartments  was  occupied,  on  the  night  of 
the  Douglass'  arrival,  by  two  gentlemen  ;  one  a  great  land- 
holder, and  owner  of  the  inn,  farm,  and  all  its  appurtenances, 
while  the  other  was  his  lawyer  and  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture. Both  had  just  come  from  their  distant  homes  in  the 
East, —  the  landholder  to  look  after  his  own  estates  in  these 
parts,  and  the  other  to  assist  him,  and  also  to  attend  to  the 
business  of  another  client,  who  was  expected  soon  to  emi- 
grate. The  name  of  the  landholder  was  Skampton,  known 
among  his  neighbors  as  the  patron,  or  patroon ;  that  of  the 
lawyer  was  Marldon,  and  that  of  his  other  client  Harcourt. 

The  room  occupied  by  these  gentlemen  had  a  cheerful  fire 
blazing  on  the  hearth, —  more  to  expel  damp  than  cold  ;  two 
single  beds.  —  the  only  articles  of  the  kind  in  the  house ;  a 
plain  table  in  the  midst  of  the  room,  with  a  mug  of  whiskey- 


MORE    WORK   FOR   THE  MAINE   LAW.  15 

punch  smoking  in  the  centre  ;  and  a  due  allowance  of  chairs, 
with  a  small  looking-glass.  This,  for  a  new  country,  as  they 
say,  was  more  than  common  doings.  Marldon  took  the  punch 
which  he  had  just  ordered,  and,  filling  a  glass,  offered  it  to 
Skampton,  saying,  "  Drink,  my  friend,  and  drive  away  dull 
care  ! " 

"  No,  Marldon;  excuse  me, —  I  never  drink,"  said  Skamp- 
ton. 

"  What !  you  never  drink,  and  .make  so  much  out  of  drink- 
ing?" 

"Well,  no  one  is  encouraged  to  drink  by  my  example; 
I  've  that  to  say  for  myself, —  I  've  a  clear  conscience  here. 
But  every  one  to  his  taste.  Because  people  are  determined 
to  '  put  an  enemy  into  their  mouths  to  steal  away  their 
brains,'  must  I  relinquish  my  business  and  my  revenues? 
Must  I  give  up  this  house  because  people  come  here  to  drink? 
If  they  are  determined  to  have  a  place  of  the  kind  among 
them,  may  not  I,  who  am  doing  what  good  I  can  with  my 
money,  reap  the  advantage  as  well  as  others,  and  thus  convert 
the  income  into  channels  of  benevolence?" 

"  Your  reasoning  is  sound,  my  worthy  client,  though  your 
example  strikes  me  —  please  excuse  it  —  as  a  little  over- 
strained. So  long  as  Scotch  whiskey  and  w7arm  punch  are 
such  acceptable  libations  to  Morpheus,  after  a  fatiguing  day, 
such  abstinence  is  out  of  the  question  to  me;  "  saying  which, 
he  put  the  full  glass  to  his  own  lips,  quaffed  its  contents  with 
a  gusto,  and,  smacking  his  lips,  added,  "  Good,  good  !  fit 
for  the  gods  !  " 

"By  the  way,  Marldon,  how  does  the  Liquor  Bill  fare  in 
the  House?" 

"  Dead  and  damned,  I  can  assure  you." 

"You  are  too  harsh  in  your  language." 


16  MAPLETON;    OB, 

"  I  only  quote  the  words  of  our  enemies,  these  renegade 
lecturers,  who  say  of  one  of  us,  when  he  kicks  the  bucket, 
'  Gone  to  a  drunkard's  grave,  dead  and  damned.'  If  they 
say  this  of  a  man^  may  I  not  say  it  of  this  confounded 
bill?  That  cursed  law  has  deprived  me  of  more  business, 
so  far  as  the  states  have  been  fool  enough  to  adopt  it.  than 
anything  which  has  happened  since  I  entered  the  profession ; 
and  I  have  sworn,  by  all  the  gods,  good,  bad  and  indifferent, 
that  our  state  shall  not  be  fooled  into  it.  It  shall  not,  it 
cannot  pass  !  " 

"What  makes  you  speak  so  confidently,  Marldon  ?  Had 
the  House  rejected  it  before  you  left?  "  * 

"  No,  I  left  in  the  midst  of  the  discussion, —  forced  away 
by  Harcourt's  business,  as  well  as  yours.  (Poor  fellow  !  his 
commercial  speculations  have  exploded,  I  suppose  you  know.) 
But,  then,  I  found  that  not  a  few  of  the  House  are  habitual 
drinkers,  and  a  man  will  not  vote  the  cup  from  his  mouth. 
D'  ye  think  I  'd  vote  away  this  comfort  ?  "  he  added,  drinking 
again. 

"Is  that  your  only  reason 7  That  don't  strike  me  as 
sufficient ;  for  they  can  lay  it  by  in  quantities,  and  keep  their 
own  bar.  These  demagogues  will  do  anything  to  court  the 
people.  What  do  the  people  say  ?" 

"  0,  they  make  an  outcry  to  please  these  blackguard  lec- 
turers ;  but  we  know  how  to  bring  them  right.  Influence 
and  money  will  knock  them  into  pi." 

"Then  you  think  the  representatives,  left  to  themselves, 
will  go  against  the  bill?" 

"^STes,  all  but  the  fanatics ;  and  even  they  complain  that  it 
is  not  stringent  enough." 

"  Not  stringent  enough  ?" 

"  No,  not  stringent  enough.      They  go  for  pouring  the 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        17 

•'  good  cratur '  into  the  gutter.  This  is  strongly  mooted  in 
one  of  our  Eastern  states.  These  rascally  lecturers  have  fed 
them  with  cayenne  so  long,  that  they  now  demand  fire. 
They  will  go  yet  for  burning  the  houses  in  which  rum  is 
found.  There  is  no  end  to  the  demand  of  these  agitators." 

"What  are  we  coming  to!"  said  Skampton,  raising  his 
hands  in  blank  astonishment. 

"  Coming  to  !  that 's  as  plain  as  the  nose  on  a  man's  face  : 
coming  to  hanging  up  by  the  neck  every  rum-dealer ;  coming 
to  burning  his  house  over  the  heads  of  his  family ;  coming  to 
worse  times  than  ever  heretic-burning  inflicted  upon  the 
world*  There  is  no  telling  what  we  shall  come  to,  with  the 
public  run  mad." 

"  Was  ever  such  persecution  waged  upon  unoffending  men! 
What  is  to  be  done  ?  Is  there  no  hope  of  protecting  our- 
selves and  our  business?"  said  Skampton,  anxiously. 

"  I  think  there  is,"  said  the  lawyer.  "  In  the  first  place, 
we  have  all  the  drinking  members  of  the  House  on  our  side. 
Then,  the  speaking  is  done  chiefly  by  my  profession,  and  we 
understand  too  well  which  side  our  bread  is  buttered  to  go 
against  the  interests  of  some  of  our  best  clients.  Besides, 
the  liquor-dealers  are  all-powerful.  Their  gains  were  never 
so  great  as  since  temperance  times.  The  conscientious  fools 
who  have  given  up  the  business  turned  their  profits  over  to 
those  who  are  not  so  mealy  mouthed ;  and  the  present  enor- 
mous profits  of  these  few  make  them  rabid  against  stringent 
legislation,  and  give  them  money  to  buy  votes,  newspaper- 
squibs,  and  to  do,  in  various  ways,  the  most  deadly  execution 
in  opposition  to  it.  The  whole  thing,  depend  upon  it,  ^11 
prove  an  abortion." 

"May  a  gracious  Providence  so  order!  "  said  Skampton, 
2* 


18  MAPLETON;  OB, 

with  an  expression  that  showed  how  much  the  subject  had 
preyed  upon  his  mind. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conversation  a  gentle  rap  was  heard 
at  the  door.  Skampton  arose  and  opened  it,  when  he  was 
surprised  to  meet  a  lady,  whose  countenance  was  one  of  in- 
telligence and  refinement,  but  overcast  with  anxiety  and 
distress.  It  was  Mrs.  Douglass,  a  lady  now  somewhat  over 
thirty,  matronly  in  appearance,  and  dignified  in  deportment, 
who  desired  a  word  with  the  gentleman  that  owned  the  inn. 

"I  am  that  gentleman."  said  Skampton;  "walk  in, 
madam." 

She  did  so,  and  occupied  a  chair  which  he  politely  handed 
her.  She  hesitated  a  moment  how  to  introduce  the  subject 
that  bore  so  heavily  upon  her  heart.  At  length  she  said, 
with  an  effort  to  restrain  her  tears,  "  I  understand,  sir,  that 
an  order  from  you  will  be  respected  in  this  house." 

"I  own  it,  madam,  but  have  nothing  to  do  with  its  man- 
agement ;  that  belongs  to  my  tenant,  our  landlord.  If  you 
have  any  business  pertaining  to  the  house,  you  must  look  to 
him." 

"  I  have  seen  the  landlord,  sir,  but  in  vain,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,"  she  added,  with  a  sigh ;  and  the  tears  now  fell  profusely 
down  her  fine  face,  in  which  some  old  grief  had  evidently 
written  its  deep  lines. 

"What  troubles  you,  madam?  what  do  you  desire?  has 
anything  happened  since  you  came  to  the  house?"  inquired 
Skampton,  with  an  expression  more  repulsive  than  soothing. 

"  It  is  a  delicate  subject,  sir,  for  a  wife,  especially  one  who 
lias  the  best  and  most  generous  husband  in  the  world,  when  he 
is  himself.  But,  alas !  he  has  not  the  power,  under  all  circum- 
stances, to  be  himself.  He  was  born  in  affluence,  and  spent 
his  early  years  where  custom  made  the  use  of  strong  drink 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        19 

necessary  to  a  manly  character  and  gentlemanly  position. 
He  had  no  natural  propensity  for  it, —  it  was  rather  disgust- 
ing to  him  than  otherwise ;  he  was  pure,  noble,  and  an  honor 
to  human  nature.  Sir,  you  will  excuse  a  wife's  partiality  in 
saying  to  you,  a  stranger,  what  was  a  matter  of  notoriety  in 
our  former  home.  But  habit  wrought  such  a  change  in  his 
nervous  system,  or  created  such  an  appetite  for  strong  drink, 
that  he  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  use  it  to  excess,  when- 
ever it  is  brought  within  his  reach,  and  he  tastes  it  at  all. 
He  went  to  all  lengths  in  dissipation ;  wasted  my  patrimony 
and  the  most  of  his  own, —  all  except  a  farm  not  many  miles 
from  this,  inherited  from  his  grandfather, — and  finally  brought 
on  delirium  tremens,  from  which  he  just  escaped  with  his 
life.  So  horrible  were  his  sufferings  that  he  did  not  return 
to  his  cups  when  he  recovered,  but  has  lived  now  two  years 
without  tasting  a  drop.  The  happiness  of  our  house  is 
restored,  and  our  affairs  have  become  so  prosperous  that  we 
are  going  to  our  new  farm,  with  the  means  of  establishing  our 
young  family  in  comfort,  and  to  acquire  for  them,  I  trust,  a 
quiet  home  and  a  good  reputation.  My  great  anxiety  is,  to 
guard  my  husband  against  the  temptation  to  his  former 
habits,  to  which  he  cannot  return  without  involving  us  all  in 
irretrievable  ruin." 

"Well,  what  of  that?"  said  Skampton,  in  a  dry  and 
withering  manner.  "  If  a  man  will  make  a  beast  of  himself, 
an  angel  cannot  save  him." 

"But,  sir,"  said  Mrs.  Douglass,  with  an  expression  of 
grief  that  would  have  touched  any  other  heart,  "there  is 
everything  to  me  and  my  little  ones  in  it.  If  he  were  insane, 
think  you  I  could  trust  him  in  a  room  with  deadly  weapons  ? 
Should  I  not  implore  the  occupant  of  such  a  room  to  be  on  his 
guard  ?  A  room  where  intoxicating  drinks  are  freely  dealt 


20  MAPLETON;  OR, 

out  is  equally  fatal  to  ray  husband,  whatever  you  please  to 
name  him." 

"Why  then  did  you  bring  him  here?"  said  Skampton, 
with  great  nonchalance. 

"  0  that  it  had  been  possible  to  avoid  coming!  We  must 
emigrate, —  we  must  stop  somewhere.  Such  a  retinue  as 
ours  could  not  be  admitted  to  a  private  dwelling ;  and  there 
was  no  alternative  but  to  stop  here  or  expose  our  famished 
company  supperless  to  the  dews  of  the  night.  Necessity  has 
compelled  us  hither ;  and  now,  to  save  my  husband,  this  — 
this  is  all  my  concern.  In  the  name  of  humanity,  sir,  I 
beseech  you  to  help  me ! " 

"  What  can  I  do,  woman?     Are  you  mad?" 

"  All  I  ask  is,  that  you  give  orders  to  your  tenant  that  not 
a  drop  which  intoxicates  be  allowed  my  husband,  for  money 
or  persuasion.  Let  all  he  would  be  likely  to  buy  be  added 
to  our  bill, —  I  will  freely  pay  it ;  but  will  you  not,  for  my 
sake,  let  the  poison  itself  be  withheld?  Will  you  not  take 
pity  on  my  helpless  children,  and  do  as  much  as  this?" 

"Why  should  this  be  necessary,  if  your  husband  has 
become  a  temperance  man?"  said  Skampton,  with  a  sneer  at 
a  movement  which  he  always  abhorred. 

"0,  he  is  not  proof  against  temptation.  This  is  his  first 
trial,  I  think  ;  and  I  see,  by  his  movements,  that  he  cannot 
withstand  it.  The  instinct  of  a  wife  has  revealed  to  me  this 
dreadful  truth.  He  is  fatigued  with  a  long  journey ;  is  de- 
pressed at  parting  from  all  the  friends  and  associates  of 
former  years;  has  been,  for  an  hour  or  two,  restive  and 
wretched,  as  if  he  felt  himself  spell-bound, —  held  by  the 
serpent's  bewitching  eye, —  and  the  very  odor  of  alcohol  has 
disarmed  him  of  his  powers  of  resistance ;  so  that  I  know  he 
will  drink  if  he  can  get  it,  and  we  shall  be  ruined.  He  has 


MORE    WORK    FOR    THE    MAINE    LAW.  21 

been,  for  some  time,  just  as  miserable  as  misery  can  make 
him." 

"  Speak  to  the  landlord,  madam  ;  the  house  is  his,  and  not 
mine.  I  have  contracted  the  use  of  it  to  him,  and  have  no 
more  control  over  it  than  you  have." 

"I  have  done  it,  sir;  but  he  only  laughs,  and  insults 
me." 

"  Every  trade  must  live,"  said  Skampton.  "  I  have  gone 
to  great  expense  in  purchasing  and  fitting  up  this  house  for 
the  public  accommodation.  It  is  a  great  thoroughfare  ;  and 
thousands  have  suffered  just  as  you  speak  of,  by  depending 
on  private  accommodations.  I  could  not  keep  the  house 
myself,  but  let  it  to  one  who  makes  that  his  business.  His 
best  profits  come  from  his  bar.  If  it  were  not  for  that,  he 
would  have  to  charge  what  many  could  not  afford  to  pay  for 
food  and  lodgings.  Would  you  have  him  sacrifice  all  his 
profits  7  If  your  husband  is  disposed  to  make  a  beast  of 
himself,  I  am  not  to  blame.  Would  you  have  me  cut  in 
upon  the  profits  of  the  house  ?  If  I  do  it  once,  I  may  again 
and  again,  and  there  would  be  no  end  to  it.  I  shall  have 
nothing  to  do  in  the  matter." 

Seeing  that  further  remonstrance  was  useless,  the  grief- 
stricken  wife  in  silent  sorrow  rose  and  left  the  room.  Alas  ! 
how  numerous  are  the  wives  in  Europe  and  America  of  whom 
she  is  the  sad,  sad  representative  ! 

"Served  her  right,"  said  Marldon,  sipping  his  punch; 
adding,  "  It 's  a  scene  ;  women  are  made  to  weep,  and  it  does 
them  good.  She  '11  feel  the  better  for  it.  She  has  the 
unction  of  feeling  herself  a  martyr,  and  you  her  executioner. 
I  have  had  my  trials  with  women's  tears  in  my  day,  I  can 
assure  you ;  and  I  know  there  's  no  way  but  to  be  firm, —  be 
firm.  Human  nature  is  what  it  is.  You  and  I  did  not  make 


22  MAPLETON;    OR, 

it  so ;  but,  if  we  can  make  something  out  of  its  being  so,  we 
should  be  confounded  fools  to  let  a  woman's  tears  pick  our 
pockets." 

"It  would  gratify  me  to  please  the  woman,"  replied  Skamp- 
ton,  a  little  shocked  by  this  bold  logic ;  "  but,  then,  Marldon, 
I  have  no  right.  I  might  give  up  my  profits ;  but  I  have 
made  a  contract  with  my  tenant  to  give  over  to  him  tho 
stand,  with  all  its  appurtenances,  for  him  to  make  the  most 
he  can  out  of  its  business,  and  it  would  not  be  right  for  me 
to  subtract  from  his  income.  I  should  violate  my  contract, 
which,  you  know,  I  am  not  a  man  to  do." 

"  No,  not  right,  not  legal  neither,"  said  the  lawyer.  "He 
could  sue  you  for  damages  on  the  terms  of  your  lease. 
Zounds  !  I  'd  like  to  manage  his  suit  against  you,  if  you  had 
listened  to  this  piece  of  female  impertinence.  All  bargains, 
to  stand,  must  show  a  quid  pro  quo,  of  which  you  would 
take  away  the  quid  if  you  interfered  with  the  business  of  the 
bar." 

This  legal  quid  suggested  the  idea  of  his  tobacco  quid ; 
whereupon,  taking  out  his  silver  case  stowed  full  of  the 
vegetable  bane, —  like  putrefaction  in  a  gilded  coffin, —  he 
proceeded  to  surcharge  one  of  his  cheeks  till  it  projected  like 
a  wen,  and  then  dropping  his  head,  now  soporific  from  alcohol 
and  tobacco,  he  sunk  into  a  profound  sleep. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        23 

CHAPTER  III. 

IT  IS  A  FEARFUL   NIGHT. 

"  Shorten  my  days  thou  canst  with  sullen  sorrow, 
And  pluck  nights  from  me,  but  not  lend  a  morrow. 
Thou  canst  help  time  to  furrow  me  with  age, 
But  stop  no  wrinkle  in  his  pilgrimage." — SHAKSPEARE. 

WHEN  Mrs.  Douglass  reached  the  parlor,  she  found  her 
husband  pacing  to  and  fro  in  an  excited  manner,  with  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  the  open  door  into  the  bar-room,  which  was 
filled  with  people  in  the  various  stages  of  intoxication,  from 
the  first  fiery  glass  to  beastly,  unconscious  helplessness.  She 
saw,  she  felt,  that  the  fumes  from  this  hell  were  fatal  to  his 
better  impulses,  and  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  making  a 
hopeless  plunge  into  the  abyss.  He  heeded  her  not  when 
she  entered,  so  intent  was  his  mind  upon  the  burning  appe- 
tite, and  the  means  of  its  gratification.  But  she  could  not 
give  him  over.  Denied  all  protection  from  the  house  or  its 
owner,  she  now  resolved  to  exert  her  utmost  skill  to  save 
her  husband,  thankful  that  not  a  drop  of  the  maddening 
liquid  had  yet  mingled  with  his  blood  since  they  entered  the 
house.  Wiping  her  eyes,  and  clothing  her  face  in  the  win- 
ning smiles  of  a  wife's  devoted  love,  the  sweetest  of  earthly 
passions,  she  took  him  by  the  arm  and  paced  to  and  fro  with 
him,  saying  every  winning  thing  which  her  ingenuity  could 
suggest,  to  divert  him,  and  enable  him  to  preserve  the  com- 
mand of  himself. 

"  My  dear  George/'  said  she,  "  this  is  certainly  a  beauti- 


24  MAPLETON;    OB, 

fill  country ;  it  is  much  pleasanter  than  I  feared  I  should 
find  it." 

"  Glad  of  it,"  said  he,  laconically,  as  if  hardly  conscious 
of  what  passed,  from  the  fiery  rage  of  one  feeling  within. 

"  I  wish  our  Charles  was  here,"  she  added  ;  "I  desire  our 
children  every  moment  under  my  eye." 

"  So  do  I,  but  I  can't  expect  it,"  he  rejoined,  in  the  same 
dry  manner,  still  occupied  with  his  one  consuming  idea. 

"  How  far  have  we  yet  to  go,  George  ?  " 

"  Fifteen  miles,"  he  said.  He  had  no  sooner  spoken  than 
a  gentleman  and  lady  entered,  with  three  beautiful  children, 
and,  gazing  at  them  a  moment,  he  rushed  forward  and  seized 
the  gentleman  by  the  hand,  exclaiming,  "  Bless  me  !  Charles 
Durham,  is  this  you  ?  " 

"Possible,  Douglass!"  said  the  man,  staring  intently; 
"  are  you  here  ?  How  glad  I  am  to  meet  you,  after  this  long, 
long  time  !  " 

"  Charles,  you  are  a  noble  fellow,"  replied  Douglass,  "  and 
look  as  well  as  ever,  only  more  manly ;  and  this  is  your  wife, 
I  suppose." 

"  Mr.  Douglass,  my  dear  Amelia,  of  whom  you  have 
heard  me  speak  so  often  as  my  chum  and  dearest  of  all  my 
schoolmates,"  said  the  man,  introducing  his  wife;  "and  Mrs. 
Douglass,  I  suppose?" 

"  Yes,  Mrs.  Douglass,  who  has  heard  as  much  ,of  Durham 
as  your  wife  has  of  Douglass." 

The  two  groups  of  children  were  also  introduced,  each 
falling  into  its  place  as  naturally  as  if  they  had  lived  together 
for  years.  Children  and  kittens  are  never  strangers. 

Mrs.  Douglass  assumed  an  air  of  the  utmost  civility  to  her 
husband's  friend,  though  the  name  of  Charles  Durham  was  a 
thunderbolt  to  all  her  hopes  of  saving  him,  on  account  of  the 


MORE    AYOliK    FOll   THE    MAINE    LAW.  2o 

much  she  had  heard  of  their  former  convivial  intercourse. 
She  feared  that  to  part  without  drinking  together  would 
be  impossible ;  and  she  knew  that  tasting  one  drop  would 
involve  her  husband  in  certain  intoxication,  to  be  continued 
perhaps  for  days,  till  "delirium"  came  to  end  his  wayward 
career.  0,  the  agony  of  a  wife  with  such  a  spectre  before 
her  mind ! 

Durham  was  a  man  of  about  thirty,  several  years  younger 
than  Mr.  Douglass,  extremely  elegant  in  person  and  manners, 
and  withal  so  well  dressed,  and  apparently  in  such  fine  con- 
dition, that  it  occurred  to  Mrs.  Douglass,  as  an  encouragement, 
that  perhaps  he  might  have  become  a  teetotaller.  His  wife  was 
a  lady  of  twenty-five,  with  a  lively  and  sparkling  expression 
of  face,  beautiful  form  and  features,  with  a  profusion  of 
rich  auburn  hair  that  hung  in  ringlets  around  a  forehead  of 
marble  polish  and  whiteness,  and  cheeks  in  which  the  lily  and 
the  rose  had  blended  their  choicest  hues.  Though  the  mother 
of  three  children,  she  still  retained  much  of  the  freshness  and 
elasticity  of  "sweet  sixteen."  The  children  were  tastefully 
dressed,  well-behaved,  and  altogether  it  was  one  of  the  most 
engaging  family  groups.  She  had  been  considered  an  heir- 
ess, and  her  husband,  the  only  son  of  distinguished  parents, 
was  thought  "  the  greatest  catch"  in  the  whole  community. 

It  was  not  customary  then  to  make  much  account  of  the 
occasional  "sprees"  of  a  young  gentleman  of  fashion;  and 
hence  the  frequent  aberrations  of  Durham  were  regarded 
rather  as  evidence  of  spirit,  or  as  an  evil  of  which  time  would 
effect  a  cure.  But,  unlike  Douglass,  his  appetite  for  strong 
drink  was  inherited  both  from  father  and  mother,  neither  of 
Avhom  could  be  said  to  be  drunkards,  but  whose  temperate 
drinking  had  so  far  wrought  upon  their  hidden  nature  as  to 
taint  the  blood  of  this  sole  heir  of  their  name  and  their  for- 
3 


26  MAPLETON;  OR, 

tune.  Charles  would  have  his  high  times,  even  from  child- 
hood; though,  -whether  drunk  or  sober,  he  was  always  one 
of  the  best-natured  fellows  in  the  world.  His  wife  loved  him 
devotedly,  though  he  had  caused  her  much  trouble,  and  had 
wasted  their  fortune,  except  the  means  of  a  very  moder- 
ate beginning  in  the  new  country.  She  still  clung  to  the 
hope  that,  being  there  out  of  the  way  of  temptation,  he 
would  reform,  and  they  should  be  a  prosperous  and  happy 
family.  Indeed,  there  were  many  points  of  resemblance,  as 
well  as  of  dissimilarity,  in  the  domestic  history  and  present 
condition  of  these  boon  companions  of  college-life.  For  the 
sake  of  his  dear  Amelia,  whom  Durham  loved  to  adoration, 
how  did  he  curse  his  habits  and  his  nature  !  How  did  he 
long  to  be  where  the  bane  could  never  reach  him  more  ! 
With  what  tearful  eyes  did  he  sometimes  regard  his  children, 
two  girls  and  a  boy,  in  \vhom  he  felt  all  a  father's  pride  and 
joy  !  But  still  the  serpent  was  coiled  round  his  heart,  and 
no  tears  or  resolutions  of  his  own,  no  ties  of  family  and 
home,  could  disengage  him  from  the  folds  and  fangs  of  the 
destroyer.  Both  these  wives  were  sharers  in  the  same  fear, 
the  moment  of  entering  this  hell.  Had  they  fallen  into  a 
den  of  robbers,  it  would  have  been  no  more  tormenting, —  no 
more  fatal  in  its  consequences. 

The  two  gentlemen  soon  became  absorbed  in  conversation 
on  by-gone  days,  fheir  wives  saying  or  doing  little  except  to 
watch  them  with  trembling  solicitude,  the  more  so  from  the 
convivial  associations  revived  by  their  remarks  and  allusions. 
At  length,  Mrs.  Durham  was  called  to  superintend  her  chil- 
dren's retirement  for  the  night,  and  Mrs.  Douglass  was  left 
to  keep  vigils  alone.  Her  children  were  already  in  bed, 
though  the  infant  slept  fitfully,  after  the  fatigue  and  exposure 
of  so  long  a  journey.  A  moment  more,  and  it  began  to 


MOKE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  27 

scream,  as  if  it  were  in  agony,  and  the  anxious  mother  was 
compelled  to  leave  the  parlor.  She  soothed  the  little  one, 
and,  taking  it  in  her  arms,  returned  to  her  post,  deter- 
mined to  throw  herself  and  screaming  child  across  her  hus- 
band's pathway  to  the  bar,  if  that  should  be  necessary  to 
save  him  from  the  charmed  eye  and  deadly  fangs  of  the  ser- 
pent which  from  that  den  lured  to  deceive  and  destroy.  But, 
alas  !  it  was  too  late.  The  moment  she  left  the  room,  Dur- 
ham said  to  his  friend,  "  Come,  we  must  have  a  treat  over 
this  unexpected  meeting." 

Glancing  his  eye  stealthily  round  the  room,  to  make  sure 
that  his  wife  was  out  of  the  way,  Douglass  replied,  "  Here  's 
for  you,  then,  in  spite  of  the  devil !  —  what  '11  you  take?  " 

"  Brandy  and  water;  plain  doings,  but  what's  better?" 
said  Durham.  Whereupon  to  the  bar  they  made  their  way 
with  nervous  haste,  and  had  swallowed  each  of  them  half  a 
glass  of  brandy  just  as  Mrs.  Douglass  returned  with  her 
screaming  child. 

"0,  George  !  my  dearest  George  !  "  she  exclaimed,  run- 
ning into  the  bar-room,  with  her  child  still  screaming.  "  You 
know  what  the  effect  will  be  ;  how  can  you  take  that  poison?" 
But  the  venom  had  already  gone  to  his  brain,  and  he  was 
stark  mad, —  partly  with  excitement,  and  partly  from  the 
effect  of  the  brandy,  after  so  long  an  abstinence.  Lifting 
himself  up  to  his  full  length,  he  turned  upon  her  his  burning 
eyes,  and  swore,  by  all  the  powers  above,  if  she  did  not  leave 
the  room  instantly,  he  would  be  the  death  of  her.  "  I  '11 
have  no  meddling  here,  wife !  "  said  he,  with  a  stern  counte- 
nance. 

''That's  right!  no  petticoat  government  in  this  room!" 
growled  the  burly-headed,  half-drunk  landlord,  from  his 
pigeon-hole. 


28  MAPLETON;   OR, 

"  An'  faith,  me  lady,  this  is  not  seeming  to  your  grace 
with  your  squalling  brat,  and  so  I  '11  hilp  ye  oot,"  said  an 
Irish  laborer,  with  a  tin  dish  in  his  hand,  suiting  the  action  to 
his  words,  and  giving  her  a  push  towards  the  parlor-door. 

"  That 's  right,  Pat,"  said  the  fiery-faced  landlord.  "  Put 
her  out ;  we  '11  have  no  Jezebels  here ! " 

Durham  smiled  upon  her  benignantly,  singing  snatches  of 
bacchanalian  songs,  and  beginning  to  dance  about  the  room 
in  wild  and  frantic  glee, —  so  that,  what  with  the  screaming 
of  the  infant,  the  cursing  of  Douglass,  the  singing  and  dancing 
of  Durham,  the  brutal  remarks  of  the  publican,  and  the  still 
more  brutal  conduct  of  his  man,  together  with  the  general 
demonstrations  of  a  drunken  brawl  among  the  intoxicated 
company  crowding  the  bar-room,  it  was  a  scene  not  often 
witnessed  this  side  of  the  infernal  regions.  There  was 
this  difference  in  the  effect  of  strong  drink  on  these  two  men, 
—  that,  while  it  inflamed  Douglass'  sense  of  personal  conse- 
quence to  the  state  of  a  judge  or  a  king,  and  made  him  com- 
bative as  a  lictor,  or  executioner,  it  had  directly  the  contrary 
effect  upon  Durham,  rendering  him  extremely  bland,  loving 
and  jovial,  so  that  nothing  was  too  good  for  him  to  give  or  do 
for  his  friends.  Both  were  alike  mad, —  only  the  madness  of 
the  one  was  terrific,  making  nothing  safe  in  his  presence, 
whether  limb  or  life ;  while  that  of  the  other  was  harmless 
and  happy,  full  of  mirthful  romance  and  seductive  song. 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Durham,  what  is  to  be  done  1 "  said  Mrs. 
Douglass,  as  she  met  her  new-made  friend  coming  to  the 
scene  of  action. 

"0,  my  dear,  I  don't  know,"  replied  Mrs.  Durham,  with 
great  concern ;  "  mad,  both  stark  mad,  I  suppose  ?  " 

^Yes,  perfectly  so,  and  surrounded  by  madmen.  I  have 
barely  escaped  with  my  life." 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  29 

'"  What !  Charles  offer  you  violence  ?  I  never  knew  that 
of  him." 

"No,  no!  it  was  not  your  husband,  but  mine,  and  this 
miserable  landlord  and  his  man.  Brandy  always  makes  my 
poor  George  furious ;  and  it  is  a  miracle  that  our  family  are 
all  alive,  after  what  we  have  gone  through." 

"  I  should  not  mistrust  it,  from  his  appearance.  He  don't 
look  like  a  man  who  drinks,  and  least  of  all  like  one  to  be 
dangerous,  if  he  did." 

"  Pie  has  not  drunk  a  drop  of  intoxicating  liquor  for  two 
years  till  this  fatal  night.  0,  my  heavenly  Father,  what 
shall  I  do?  —  what  shall  I  do?  There 's  no  cure,  no  cure, 
but  death  !  It  was  the  delirium  tremens  that  cured  him 
before,  but  he  cannot  survive  another  attack.  Nor  can  he 
drink  without  bringing  it  on,  after  the  shock  his  constitution 
has  received.  0,  it  is  so  dreadful,  as  if  all  the  evil  spirits 
had  come  in  bodily  shape  to  torment  a  man  ! " 

"  Charles  never  had  that  terrible  disease.  His  turns  of 
drinking  are  only  periodical,  lasting  sometimes  a  week  or  two ; 
and  the  intervals  between  them,  at  least  latterly,  have  often 
been  long-continued.  0,  I  did  hope,  in  this  wilderness  coun- 
try, to  get  beyond  the  reach  of  an  enemy  which  has  been  the 
blight  of  our  lives.  But  it  is  here, —  it  is  everywhere  !  " 
Saying  this,  she  stepped  to  the  bar-room  door,  and  found 
it  fastened  now  that  the  prey  was  secure ;  but  the  singing 
of  her  husband  she  could  distinctly  hear,  mingled  with  the 
curses  of  Douglass,  who  had  by  this  time  quarrelled  with  all 
who  were  in  a  mood  for  it ;  and  the  medley  of  sounds  from  the 
bar-room  was  more  like  the  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  in 
outer  darkness,  than  like  the  scenes  of  earth.  Owing  to 
their  dissimilarity  of  disposition  in  the  hours  of  madness, 
Douglass  and  Durham  never  quarrelled  between  themselves, 
3* 


30  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

but  seemed  united  by  a  singular  tie  of  affinity,  as  if  alcohol 
had  kindled  between  them  a  morbid  flame  of  artificial  sympa- 
thy and  of  fellow-feeling.  Their  wives,  seeing  how  fruitless 
•were  attempts  to  save  them,  now  desisted,  and  resigned  them- 
selves to  black  despair.  Mrs.  Douglass'  infant  continued 
still  its  incessant  screaming ;  and,  in  addition,  her  anxiety 
about  Charles  added  another  pang  to  her  already  lacerated 
heart.  0  !  could  one-millionth  part  of  the  misery  occa- 
sioned by  alcohol  come  distinctly  before  the  law-makers  of 
our  land,  they  could  not  fail  to  see  their  duty  to  adopt  and 
prosecute  a  stringent  course  of  legislation  against  the  gigantic 
evil! 

Charles  at  length  arrived,  almost  dead  with  fatigue  and 
excitement,  from  the  labors  and  dangers  which  he  had  encoun- 
tered. Leaving  his  team  to  the  men,  he  hastened  to  the  bar- 
room door  from  without,  and,  entering,  looked  round  upon 
the  drunken  group,  to  find  some  one  of  whom  he  might 
inquire  for  his  family,  his  supper,  and  his  lodgings.  But, 
before  he  was  aware  of  what  hurt  him,  he  received  from  his 
father's  fist  a  blow  which  knocked  him  across  the  room  and 
felled  him  senseless  to  the  floor.  Mrs.  Douglass  heard  tho 
noise,  and  divined  the  cause,  as  she  knew  her  husband's  mad- 
ness was  always  most  embittered  against  his  own  family. 
Resigning  her  infant  to  Mrs.  Durham,  she  went  out  of  the  hall 
door,  and  ran  round  and  entered  the  bar-room  where  Charles 
had  just  gone  in.  Her  husband,  seeing  her,  made  a  pass 
at  her  head ;  but  the  blow  was  parried  by  those  of  the  drunken 
crew  who  had  some  humane  feelings  left,  who  protected  her 
till  she  had  carried  out  her  child,  and  placed  him  all  her  own 
bed.  For  half  an  hour  she  stood  over  him,  rubbing  his 
limbs,  bathing  his  head,  making  hot  applications  to  his  chest, 
and  doing  everything  for  his  restoration  which  a  mother's 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  31 

love  could  dictate.  The  first  thing  of  which  Charles  was 
conscious  was  his  mother's  tears  falling  like  rain  upon  his 
cheeks,  as  she  stooped  down  to  imprint  the  kisses  of  tender- 
ness and  concern.  The  agonized  thought  of  their  condition, 
which  now  flashed  across  his  mind,  drove  him  almost  to  mad- 
ness. His  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  with  himself,  the 
hapless  family  of  a  drunkard,  seemed  to  him  the  most  miser- 
able and  the  most  hopeless  of  living  beings.  He  wished 
himself  dead,  and  that  they  were  all  dead  with  him. 

"  0,  mother  !  "  he  said,  "  such  another  night  I  never  saw, 
and  I  pray  God  I  may  never  see  again !  I  have  just  escaped 
death  by  a  wild  beast,  to  find  in  my  own  father  a  still  more 
dangerous  foe." 

"  What  do  you  say,  my  son?  You  are  wild. —  not  quite 
yourself  yet." 

"Yes,  mother,"  he  replied,  kissing  her;  "lam  myself. 
Would  I  were  not, —  would  it  were  all  a  dream  !  "  He  then 
related  the  adventures  of  his  nocturnal  drive  through  the 
wilderness,  at  the  recital  of  which  she  too  felt  the  force  and 
horror  of  his  reflections. 

"0,  my  son !  my  son !  God  be  praised  that  you  are 
spared!"  she  said,  and  again  renewed  her  fond  embrace. 
"  Perhaps  it  is  that  you  may  yet  be  a  comfort  to  your  mother, 
and  the  salvation  of  the  family.  We  must  hope, —  yes,  we 
must;  but  for  hope,  the  heart  would  break." 

"0,  mother!  I  see  no  hope.  Better  dead  than  alive. 
Why  had  not  the  humane  panther  been  left  to  put  me  out 
of  my  misery  ?  Better  die  by  a  brute  than  by  one's  own 
father.  Why  did  you  not  save  him  from  this  riot?  " 

"  I  did  all  I  could  to  save  him,  my  dear  son.  I  besought 
the  landlord  and  the  owner  of  the  house  not  to  give  him  the 
cup  for  any  consideration.  I  wept,  and  begged,  and  entreated, 


32  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

but  all  to  no  purpose.  We  are  in  the  hell,  and,  if  we  all 
sink  together,  I  shall  have  this  to  reflect  upon,  that  I  did 
•what  I  could  to  escape  it."  Mother  and  son  now  wept  in 
silence,  "with  arms  closely  folded  round  each  other's  neck, 
seeming  thus  to  resign  themselves  to  their  fate, —  the  most 
miserable  fate  that  mother  and  son  ever  endured, —  that  of 
being  a  drunkard's  wife  and  child. 

"  My  dear  Charles,  you  have  had  no  supper." 
"  No,  mother,  I  cannot  eat ;  I  never  wish  to  eat  again." 
<(  You  must  eat,  my  child  ; "  and,  calling  the  only  servant 
who 'was  still  up,  she  ordered  tea  and  toast.  The  servant, 
touched  with  sympathy,  hastened  to  do  as  she  was  bidden. 
After  tea  Charles  revived  a  little,  and  soon  sunk  into  a  sweet 
sleep.  Mrs.  Douglass  then  joined  her  new  friend  in  the  par- 
lor. Neither  of  them  could  sleep.  The  horrid  oaths,  angry 
blows,  obscene  songs  and  infernal  fumes,  of  the  den  into 
which  their  husbands  had  fallen,  drove  sleep  far  from  them. 
They  walked  the  room,  and  wrung  their  hands  in  agony. 
Description  falls  short  of  the  reality.  Imagination  must  sup- 
ply the  rest.  "  0.  thou  invisible  spirit  of  wine  !  If  thou  hast 
no  name  to  be  known  by,  let  us  call  thee  —  devil."  Thou 
art  the  incarnation  of  all  devils, —  lust,  revenge,  pride,  filthi- 
ness,  suspicion,  envy,  jealousy,  murder.  Thy  march  through 
the  Avorld  is  strewed  with  human  bones.  Thou  art  bap- 
tized in  tears  and  blood.  Thy  name  is  legion.  There  is  no 
wrong  which  thou  dost  not  instigate,  no  lust  thou  dost  not 
inflame,  no  pang  thou  dost  not  render  more  poignant,  no  law 
thou  dost  not  violate,  and  no  virtue  nor  joy  thou  dost  not 
despoil!  Who  hath  woe? — who  hath  sorrow?  —  who  hath 
contentions?  —  who  hath  babbling? — who  hath  wounds  with- 
out cause  ?  —  who  hath  redness  of  eyes  ?  They  that  tarry 
long  at  the  wine;  they  that  go  to  seek  mixed  wine." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  33 

It  was  now  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Thick  mists  hung 
over  the  face  of  the  world.  The  stars  shone  feebly  from  the 
ethereal  expanse.  Night  had  gathered  all  its  forces  to  resist 
the  onset  of  coming  day.  The  distant  wolves,  prowling  over 
nature's  untrimmed  and  boundless  domain,  where  their  reign 
had  never  been  disputed,  kept  up  an  incessant  howling  to 
make  night  hideous.  The  bat  was  on  the  wing,  and  the  owl 
from  his  tree-top  gave  forth  his  ominous  note.  The  genius 
of  rapine  and  murder,  ensconced  in  foul  exhalations,  awaited 
its  victims.  The  dense  darkness  of  approaching  dawn  had 
brought  upon  animated  nature  a  deeper  sleep,  and  a  pro- 
founder  insensibility  to  danger.  Charles  felt  the  spell, 
and  lay  in  the  lap  of  unconsciousness.  The  infant  had 
ceased  its  moans,  and  forgotten  its  sorrows.  The  household 
was  all  quiet,  except  the  wary  publican  and  his  hapless  vic- 
tims, to  whom  he  was  dealing  out  "  liquid  fire  and  distilled 
damnation."  The  ladies,  too,  still  kept  vigil,  awaiting  they 
knew  not  what.  They  could  not  sleep  while  the  dearest 
objects  of  their  aifection  were  thus  in  the  hand  of  the 
destroyer. 

Thus  things  were  situated,  when  all  at  once  they  were 
aroused  from  their  dreamy  despair  by  yells  and  screams 
resounding  through  the  darkness,  and  echoing  from  the  con- 
tiguous forest,  as  if  murder,  with  all  its  myrmidons,  were 
indeed  out  upon  its  work  of  blood.  The  sound  did  not 
reach  the  bar-room  ;  it  was  neutralized  by  the  more  terrible 
medley  within.  Mrs.  Douglass  and  her  friend  hastened  to 
the  back  door,  from  which  quarter  the  noise  seemed  to  come, 
and,  looking  out,  they  saw  lights  from  a  log-cabin  in  the  yard 
a  few  rods  back  of  the  main  building.  They  hesitated,  irres- 
olute as  to  what  should  be  done.  Blow  after  blow,  accompa- 
nied by  the  stifled  shrieks  of  a  female  voice,  convinced  them 


34  MAPLETON ;     OK, 

that  deeds  of  fearful  import  were  enacting  in  the  cabin. 
Without  reflection,  they  obeyed  the  dictates  of  humanity,  and. 
taking  each  other  by  the  arm,  they  groped  their  way  till  they 
could  distinctly  see,  through  the  crevices  of  the  unplastered 
logs,  a  man  dealing  deadly  blows  upon  the  person  of  a  woman. 
Mrs.  Douglass  instantly  recognized  the  man  as  the  one  with  a 
tin  dish  who  had  so  violently  ejected  her  from  the  bar-room. 
His  name,  they  afterwards  learned,  was  Pat  Tooney,  the  farmer 
of  the  establishment,  against  whom  his  employer  contrived  to 
make  an  annual  liquor-bill  equal  to  his  wages,  leaving  his 
wife  and  eight  children  to  support  both  him  and  themselves. 
When  Mrs.  Douglass  saw  him,  he  had  come  with  his  cup  for 
his  evening  pint  of  whiskey,  which,  added  to  what  he  had 
drunk  in  the  course  of  the  day,  made  him  quite  mad.  In 
this  state  he  began  to  catechize  his  wife  about  her  provision 
for  friends  whom  he  expected  the  next  day. 
"Have  you  kilt  the  turkey,  Jenny?  " 
"Yes.  Pathrick,"  was  his  wife's  submissive  reply. 
"  An'  how  have  ye  dhrissed  it  ?  "  added  Pat,  full  of  explo- 
sive anger. 

"  I  drew  it,  but  could  not  get  the  sinews  oot  of  the  legs." 
"  That's  beliking  your  husband's  frinds,  is  't,  ye  jade?  " 
replied  Tooney,  striking  her  a  furious  blow  in  the  mouth  with 
his  fist.  Mrs.  Tooney  screamed  from  fear  and  pain,  and  this 
it  was  that  called  the  attention  of  the  ladies.  Determined  to 
prosecute  the  war  to  the  knife,  Pat  began  now  to  question  his 
wife  about  some  change  he  had  seen  in  her  hands,  and  threat- 
ened to  kill  her  if  she  did  not  give  a  true  account.  The 
poor  woman  tried  to  obey  orders ;  but,  before  she  had  spoken 
three  words,  the  frenzy  took  him  again,  and  he  struck  her 
so  violently  in  the  breast  as  to  knock  her  down.  He  then 
fell  to  kicking  her  stomach  and  side,  as  she  lay  on  the  floor, 


MOKE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  35 

when  the  ladies  made  bold  to  break  in  upon  him,  and  beg 
him  to  desist.  This  only  exasperated  him  the  more ;  and, 
seizing  his  wife  by  the  hair  of  her  head,  he  dragged  her 
about  till  she  was  totally  insensible.  Seemingly  alarmed  at 
this  symptom, —  or  perhaps  the  madness  of  intoxication  begin- 
ning to  subside, —  he  seized  a  pail  of  water,  and  dashed  it  in 
her  face,  to  revive  her,  twice  repeating  the  application  after- 
wards from  a  pitcher.  She  gasped  for  breath  a  moment,  and 
then  —  as  it  proved  in  the  event,  though  not  suspected  at  the 
moment  —  she  resigned  her  spirit  to  the  God  that  gave  it. 
Kneeling  down  over  the  head  of  his  deceased  wife,  the  wretch 
began  to  say,  in  plaintive  tones,  "  Jenny,  you  love  me  !  Do 
you  not  love  me?  do  I  not  love  you?"  But  no  voice 
answered.  All  was  still,  awful, —  the  wife  of  a  drunkard 
dead  by  his  own  hands  !  The  ladies  did  what  they  could  to 
restore  her,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Tooney  was  soon  missing, 
and  could  not  be  found.  When  this  fact  was  made  certain, 
the  whole  group  of  children,  who  had  remained  hid,  like 
chickens  from  the  hawk,  came  round  the  corpse  of  their 
mother,  uttering  lamentations  such  as  the  impassioned  Irish 
alone  know  how  to  express.  The  ladies  devoted  the  rest  of 
the  night  to  laying  out  the  corpse,  and  alleviating  the  misery 
of  those  whose  fate  so  much  resembled  their  own. 

Morning  —  rosy-fingered,  celestial,  beautiful,  true  to  its 
promise  of  relief  for  the  woes  of  the  night  —  came  at  length, 
to  greet  the  expectant  emigrants,  and  to  invite  them  from 
their  human  den  into  the  balmy  air  and  sweet  light  of  a  new 
day,  to  bask  in  the  fragrance  and  loveliness  of  nature's 
fresh  and  expansive  luxuriance.  The  robin  and  blue-bird 
were  carolling  from  their  pendent  bough,  and  myriads  of 
dew-drops  added  lustre  and  brilliancy  to  the  enchanting  scene. 
The  repose  without  was  as  profound  as  if  no  tempest  had 


36  MAPLETON;  OR, 

raged  within,  and  the  dawn  appeared  not  in  the  habiliments 
of  sorrow  for  the  events  of  the  night,  but  in  all  the  brilliancy 
of  her  jewelled  and  variegated  robes. 

On  returning  from  the  cabin  to  the  inn,  the  ladies  found 
that  the  landlord  had  disappeared.  His  place  was  supplied 
by  a  bar-keeper,  who  seemed  more  susceptible  to  the  touches 
of  humanity.  They  were  silent  as  to  what  had  happened  in 
the  Irish  family,  lest  they  should  be  detained  as  witnesses, 
and  prepared  to  hasten  their  departure.  Those  tenants  of  the 
bar-room  not  .too  much  intoxicated  to  get  away  were  gone  : 
and  their  husbands  they  found  on  the  floor,  in  each  other's 
arms,  dead  drunk,  and  as  helpless  as  they  were  unconscious. 
Brandy  has  its  sympathies,  and  drunkenness  its  fellow-feel- 
ing. The  bar-keeper  kindly  promised,  if  they  awaked  and 
called  for  more,  not  to  give  them  another  drop.  Charles  was 
refreshed  by  sleep,  and,  though  much  bruised,  he  was  able  to 
walk.  The  whole  neighborhood  was  astir  about  the  murder, 
but  Mrs.  Douglass  and  her  friend  kept  their  own  counsel. 
Skampton  and  Marldon,  hearing  of  the  occurrence,  deemed  it 
prudent  to  be  off  as  soon  as  possible ;  and  they  drove  away 
together,  before  they  got  their  breakfast.  The  ladies  mutu- 
ally agreed  that  their  safest  course  would  be  to  leave  while 
their  husbands  were  yet  insensible,  and  incapable  of  resist- 
ance. They  were  all  soon  re-packed  on  board  of  their  wagons, 
having  their  drunken  husbands  stowed  away  in  a  place  where 
they  could  ride  without  injury;  and  thus,  at  length,  they  made 
their  escape  from  "  this  breathing-hole  of  hell." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.         37 

CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   NEW    HOME. 

"Dun.    This  castle  hath  a  pleasant  seat ;  the  air 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommends  itself 
Unto  our  gentle  senses. 

"San.    This  guest  of  summer, 
The  temple-haunting  martlet,  does  approve, 
By  his  loved  mansionry,  that  the  heaven's  breath 
Smells  -\vooingly  here  ;  no  jutty,  frieze,  buttress, 
Nor  coigne  of  vantage,  but  this  bird  hath  made 
His  pendent  bed  and  procreant  cradle.     Where  they 
Most  breed  and  haunt,  I  have  observed^  the  air 
Is  delicate."  SHAKSPEARE. 

MRS.  DOUGLASS  set  off  with  a  heavy  heart.  She  clung, 
with  the  fondest  feelings,  to  her  husband.  The  scenes  which 
had  deprived  her  of  sleep  the  previous  night  only  put  her 
womanly  love  to  the  test,  and  made  it  burn  with  increasing 
constancy  and  tenderness.  Her  heart  never  went  forth  to 
her  dear  George,  her  adored  husband,  with  such  perfect 
abandonment.  She  realized  how  much  it  must  have  cost 
him  to  deny  for  two  long  years  an  appetite  of  such  over- 
mastering strength ;  and  he  had  done  it  out  of  regard  to 
her  and  her  children.  Virtue  practised  against  such  force 
of  resistance  seemed  to  her  four-fold  more  praiseworthy.  "  0, 
my  George,  my  dearest  George  !  at  what  a  cost  have  you  main- 
tained so  long  your  temperance  !  Your  appetite  has  become 
your  misfortune  more  than  your  crime.  Your  crime  was  in 
first  yielding  to  the  preposterous  customs  of  society.  Your 
wife  will  love  you,  George ;  yes,  she  will  teach  her  children 
to  love  you.  She  will  love  you  the  more  that  others  hate 
4 


38  MAPLETON;    OR, 

and  despise  you.  Yes,  George  !  you  are  my  own  dear,  gen- 
erous, noble  and  faithful  husband ;  and  all  I  desire,  except  — 
except  —  what  you  cannot  help  —  an  appetite  for  strong 
drink,  over  which  you  mourn,  more  than  wife  or  children,  or 
any  one  else.  I  will  comfort  you,  George;  yes,  I  will. 
Duty  and  affection  alike  dictate  that  I  should  soothe  your 
anguished  feelings."  0,  who  can  estimate  the  purity  and 
strength  of  a  woman's  love?  Still,  she  felt  for  her  children. 
They  could  not  enter  into  her  feelings  as  a  wife.  They  were 
more  than  orphans,  and  might,  in  future  years,  curse  their 
relationship  to  such  a  father.  Alas  !  it  is  far  more  fatal  than 
relationship  to  parents  who  have  already  died  a  virtuous 
death. 

As  a  dictate  of  more  than  usual  tenderness,  she  felt  that 
she  must  have  her  whole  family  round  her  own  person ;  and 
hence  crowded  them  all  with  her  into  the  same  wagon,  with 
the  addition  of  a  driver,  as  Charles  was  too  much  bruised  to 
manage  the  horses.  It  was  a  large  vehicle,  whose  bottom 
she  first  covered  with  bedding,  and  laid  her  husband  upon  it, 
carefully  tucking  him  up  on  all  sides,  with  the  pillows  and 
bolsters,  to  prevent  his  being  bruised.  Above  were  two 
seats,  the  forward  of  which  she,  with  baby  in  arms,  occupied, 
beside  the  driver ;  on  the  hinder  one  Charles  and  his  two 
brothers  next  to  himself —  George  and  Samuel  —  were  seated  ;• 
and  the  two  little  girls,  Mary  and  Cornelia,  insisted  that  they 
would  sit  on  the  bottom,  beside  their  papa,  to  keep  him 
steady.  George  and  Samuel  were  old  enough  to  have  some 
idea  of  the  cause  of  their  father's  trouble ;  both  looked  sad, 
and  were  silent  on  the  subject,  often  reaching  forward  and 
kissing  their  dear  mamma,  as  if  it  might  be  some  mitigation  of 
her  sufferings.  Their  lips  would  curl  with  grief,  and  the  tears 
would  start,  whenever  they  did  it.  Beyond  this  they  gave 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAAV.  39 

no  signs  of  sensibility  to  what  had  happened.  But  the  little 
girls  thought  their  dear  papa  was  only  sick ;  and  how  full 
of  sympathy  and  caresses  were  they !  Mary  sat  on  one  Side, 
and  Cornelia  on  the  other,  pressed  close  against  his  head,  to 
hold  it  firm,  bestowing  kisses  on  his  lips,  cheeks,  forehead, 
chin. 

"Mamma,"  said  little  Mary,  "has  papa  got  a  fever?  — 
his  breath  smells  so  !  " 

"  Don't  disturb  your  father,  my  love,"  replied  her  mother, 
stung  to  the  quick  by  the  child's  allusion  to  the  fetid  relic 
of  the  bane. 

"  Papa,"  said  Nelly,  "don't  you  know  me?  " 

"  How  can  he,  when  he  don't  see?  "  replied  little  Mary. 

"Can't  you  hear  me,  papa?"  inquired  Nelly  again. 
"  Why  don't  you  speak,  papa?  Dear  papa,  do  speak  !  speak 
to  your  Nelly  !  " 

Thus  they  travelled  for  several  hours.  Their  road  lay 
through  an  unbroken  wilderness,  where  nature's  exuberance 
was  unrestrained  by  art. —  a  scene  of  solemn  grandeur,  full 
of  the  inspirations  of  poetry  and  romance.  The  dense  shade 
of  enormous  tree-tops,  interwoven  and  intertwined,  like  an 
over-hanging  veil,  had  so  effectually  excluded  the  sun's  rays 
as  to  kill  out  the  underbrush,  and  leave  an  unencumbered 
surface  between  the  large  trunks  of  the  trees  which  studded 
the  soil.  Still,  in  passing  over  roots  and  knolls,  the  wagon 
often  rolled  and  pitched  at  a  fearful  rate,  and  all  the  efforts 
of  the  children  were  necessary  to  hold  their  father  in  his 
place.  Not  many  minutes  intervened  when  the  mild  and 
tearful  eyes  of  Mrs.  Douglass  were  not  turned  towards  him, 
to  see  that  all  was  right.  At  length,  in  one  of  those  glances 
of  affection,  she  saw  two  streams  of  tears  running  down  his 
face,  to  assure  her  that  his  consciousness  was  restored,  though 


40  MAPLETON;  OR, 

chagrin  and  mortification  kept  his  eyes  closed  and  his  lips 
sealed.  When  his  little  daughters  kissed  his  lips,  he  would 
turn  away  his  face,  as  if  fearful  of  tainting  their  pure  breath 
by  contact  with  such  a  mass  of  pollution  as  he  felt  himself  to 
be. 

"  I  am  the  plague-spot  of  this  innocent  group ! "  he  thought 
within  himself.  "  0  that  I  were  dead !  I  am  a  grief  to  my 
wife,  and  a  shame  to  my  children.  I  am  not  fit  to  be  loved 
by  such  angels."  Ah  !  could  that  landlord,  and  that  propri- 
etor of  the  miserable  groggery  in  which  these  wounds  had 
been  inflicted, —  could  they  have  looked  into  that  drunkard's 
heart,  at  this  moment  of  returning  consciousness,  how  poor  a 
compensation  for  so  much  misery  would  their  paltry  gains 
have  appeared !  Such  a  quid  pro  quo  is  enough  to  make 
avarice  relent,  and  covetousness  relinquish  its  gains.  Even 
Marldon  might  have  been  touched  with  pity.  The  profits 
thus  wrung  out  of  human  weakness  and  vice  are  a  canker  upon 
the  soul,  to  eat  into  it  like  fire.  It  is  a  merchandise  of 
woman's  tears,  a  trading  in  worse  than  orphan  grief,  dealing 
out  infamy  and  hopeless  ruin  to  a  helpless  group  of  little 
ones,  whom  the  winds  had  not  otherwise  rudely  visited, 
merely  for  the  sorry  satisfaction  of  having  a  golden  stream 
flowing  into  one's  own  purse.  0  !  if  one  vault  of  final 
despair  is  more  dismal  than  the  rest,  it  will  be  occupied  by 
the  caterer  to  the  drunkard's  appetite,  the  promiscuous  dealer 
in  intoxicating  drinks,  whether  by  wholesale  or  retail,  by  the 
pipe  or  by  the  glass,  from  the  distillery  or  from  the  bar,  to 
obtain  the  proceeds  of  vice  and  misery  ! 

We  will  now  give  Charles'  impressions  of  his  new  home  in 

his  own  words.     His  recolfections  are  more  graphic  —  though 

a  little  over-wrought  —  than  could  be  expected  from  a  sec- 

'ond-hand  description.     "We  reached  it  at  dusk,"  he  says, 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  41 

"having  travelled  but  fifteen  miles  the  last  day, —  the  roads 
being  rough,  and  father's  condition  so  peculiar  as  to  more  or 
less  retard  our  progress.  He  —  poor,  dear  man !  —  was  per- 
fectly himself  when  we  arrived,  though  miserable  as  misery 
could  make  him.  He  seemed  disappointed  and  shocked  at 
his  own  return  to  a  vice  which  had  cost  him  so  much,  and 
against  which  he  had  fortified  himself  by  so  many  resolves. 
It  was  several  days  before  he  became  at  all  reassured ;  and 
then  it  was  more  from  the  consciousness  that  he  was  in  a 
town  without  the  accursed  traffic  in  alcohol  than  from  any 
reliance  upon  his  own  virtue.  We  all  gathered  round  him, 
and  loved  him  as  we  never  did  before.  My  mother  was  unre- 
mitting in  her  attentions.  My  little  sisters  clung  to  him 
every  moment  he  was  in  the  house,  from  an  undefined  feel- 
ing that  he  had  been  unhappy,  and  might  be  again.  And  as 
for  myself  and  brothers,  we  were  more  than  ever  respectful 
and  obedient  to  him.  Still,  I  could  often  detect  him  weep- 
ing bitter  tears,  as  if,  however  we  might  feel,  he  never  could 
forgive  himself.  But,  gradually,  our  new  circumstances  and 
new  home,  and,  more  than  all,  his  yet  unstained  reputation 
in  town,  wrought  in  him  the  confidence  of  a  new  life. 

"I  was  charmed  with  our  new  home.  The  house,  the 
trees,  the  clouds,  all  to  me  had  the  charm  of  novelty  and 
romance.  It  was  a  block  house,  built  of  square  beams,  care- 
fully hewed  and  adjusted  one  upon  another,  with  a  layer  of 
lime-mortar  between,  to  make  a  solid  wooden  wall.  It. had 
three  apartments,  each  eighteen  feet  square,  standing  in  a 
row,  the  whole  building  being  fifty-four  feet  in  length  and 
eighteen  wide, —  not  symmetrical,  but  convenient.  It  was 
whitewashed  without  and  within,  thus  contrasting  beautifully 
with  the  leafy  canopy  which  waved  above  and  around.  The 
family -room  was  the  centre,  while  the  right  wing  was  used 

.    '  4* 


42  MAPLETON;    OR, 

for  parlor,  and  the  left  for  sleeping  apartments.  A  half- story 
above  afforded  space  also  for  study,  storage,  and  various 
purposes.  It  was  rural  and  romantic  as  a  whole,  and  I 
always  had  a  home  feeling  in  it  to  make  me  regret  abandon- 
ing it  for  a  more  stately  mansion.  It  taught  me  how  inde- 
pendent our  happiness  is  of  architectural  proportions  or  costly 
trappings.  This  house,  and  a  fifty-acre  wheat-field,  which 
we  found  investing  the  earth  in  a  rich  mantle  of  green,  were 
the  result  of  my  father's  attention  to  the  farm  before  remov- 
ing his  family.  He  had  preserved  a  young  growth  of  maples 
directly  round  the  house,  to  beautify  our  home.  Altogether, 
it  was  a  sweet  place,  which  poetry  might  choose  for  its  own, 
had  a  man  any  in  his  soul. 

"  On  the  night  of  our  arrival  we  laid  our  beds  on  the  floor 
in  a  promiscuous  jumble,  and  cast  our  fatigued  bodies  upon 
them  without  ceremony,  and  soon  lost  ourselves  in  a  dream- 
less sleep.  My  father  was  the  only  exception,  whose  heart 
had  evidently  been  preying  upon  itself  through  the  night  ; 
though  his  thoughts  were  turned  to  account,  probably  as  a 
means  of  diversion,  in  excogitating  the  plan  of  a  bay-window, 
to  give  us  a  more  commanding  view  of  the  lake  which  formed 
the  northern  semi-circle  of  our  sensible  horizon.  Our  house 
stood  directly  on  the  bank,  and  the  said  window  was  located 
over  our  back  or  lake  door,  in  the  upper  story ;  and  seemed 
literally  to  overhang  a  glorious  expanse  of  molten  silver, 
giving  light  to  the  room  which  was  assigned  to  me  for  a 
study.  I  was  already,  by  the  way,  nearly  fitted  for  college, 
and  here  completed  my  preparation,  under  the  tutelage  of 
my  mother,  whose  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  had  carefully 
trained  her  both  in  the  classics  and  the  exact  sciences.  This 
bay-window,  therefore,  is  connected  in  my  mind  with  many 


MORE   WORK   FOR   TIIE   MAINE   LAW.  •        43 

tender  and  interesting  associations,  which  must  be  my  apology 
for  the  minuteness  of  my  allusions. 

"  The  matter  of  the  bay-window  being  settled,  we  plunged 
at  once  into  the  turmoil  of  putting  furniture  into  its  place. 
In  the  course  of  a  week,  each  article  and  utensil  had  found 
its  proper  nook  and  corner.  As  for  myself,  I  was  too  much 
excited  to  take  an  interest  in  such  commonplace  affairs. 
The  logging-field,  the  woods,  beach,  birds  and  beasts,  had 
greater  charms.  With  my  iron-wood  lever  I  now  lifted  with 
the  men  ;  now  ran  to  fasten  the  chain  on  a  log,  and  watch 
its  reluctant  movements  as  it  found  its  way  into  the  growing 
heap ;  now  seized  the  goad,  and,  with  genuine  boyish  pride, 
exercised  my  authority  over  the  oxen,  wondering  that  such 
huge  animals  should  be  so  obsequious  to  my  gee,  hare,  whoa  ! 
If  ever  boy  lived  on  enchanted  ground,  I  did,  months  after  our 
arrival.  My  father  allowed  me  my  bent,  whether  to  work  or 
play,  from  an  over-indulgence  arising  probably  from  the 
peculiar  state  of  his  own  mind.  I  leaped  ;  I  ran  among  the 
thick  trees ;  I  plunged  into  the  limpid  lake  to  regale  myself 
with  swimming;  I  gathered  smooth  pebbles  along  its  shore;  I 
watched  the  gyrations  of  the  eagle  through  the  ambient  air, 
and  saw  him  poising  his  wings  to  descry  his  prey,  and  from 
his  lofty  elevation  pouncing  upon  it  like  lightning,  bearing 
it  from  its  watery  home  to  nourish  the  ugly  growth  of  his 
young ;  I  climbed  the  tallest  trees  to  sport  myself  with  his 
eaglets  in  their  eyrie;  I  skimmed  the  lake  in  our  family 
yawl,  with  my  younger  brothers  for  oars-men ;  I  watched  the 
summer  'fallow  as  it  gradually  disrobed  itself  from  its  black 
mantle  of  burnt  logs,  and  put  on  the  beautiful  green  of  grow- 
ing wheat.  I  waded  brooks  and  threaded  rivers,  and  gathered 
nuts  and  berries,  or  listened  to  the  evening  note  of  the  loon 
from  his  hiding-place  of  mist,  like  a  voice  from  the  unseen 


44  MAPLETON;    OR, 

world.  I  noted  the  water-spout  stretching  down  from  the 
pendent  cloud,  like  a  vast  line  of  pitchy  hose,  till  it  touched 
the  surface  of  the  deep,  through  which  the  genius  of  storm 
pumped  a  supply  for  his  aerial  reservoirs.  I  once  saw  a 
corpse  dashed  ashore  by  the  curling  surf,  asking  the  favor  of 
a  forest  grave.  I  gazed  upon  jostling  clouds  floating  over 
the  watery  expanse  like  the  drift  of  mighty  rivers.  I  beheld 
stately  forests  bowing  obsequiously  to  the  imperious  hurricane, 
as  the  slave  to  the  yoke  that  galls  him.  All  these,  and  much 
more  of  a  like  character,  were  among  my  new-country  experi- 
ences, charming  my  fancy  and  inflaming  my  imagination. 

"My  father's  land  had  long  been  in  the  family,  and  known 
as  the  Douglass  tract;  being  included  in  a  wider  extent  of 
country,  that  went  under  the  name  of  Mapleton,  from  the 
number  of  its  sugar-trees  :  an  appellation  too  characteristic 
and  beautiful  to  survive  the  rage  for  a  Grecian  and  Roman 
nomenclature  which  afterwards  prevailed.  It  was  a  large 
town  in  its  superficial  area,  including  an  extent  of  country 
twenty  miles  in  length  and  ten  in  breadth ;  and  was  one  of 
those  locations  which  Providence  seemed  to  reserve,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  as  a  gift  of  special  beauty  and  loveli- 
ness to  the  men  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  tide  of 
population  began  now  all  of  a  sudden  to  flood  it,  as  if 
impatient  of  the  restraint  which  had  so  long  withheld  it  from 
the  fair  domain. 

"I  was  naturally  arbitrary  and  imperious.  I  did  not 
know  it  in  my  youth,  till  bitter  experience  taught  me  the 
fact.  I  domineered  over  my  brothers,  who  regarded  me  as 
their  oracle.  They  rowed  the  boat,  while  I,  proud  as  the 
captain  of  an  Indiaman,  sat  perched  on  my  little  quarter- 
deck, with  helm  in  hand,  '  the  monarch  of  all  I  surveyed/ 
When  I  think  that  one  of  these  dear  associates  of  my  youth 


MOKE   AVORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  45 

is  now  no  more,  dying  in  a  manner  that  makes  me  shudder  to 
remember,  the  victim  of  a  parental  madness  which  had  been 
induced  by  a  nefarious  traffic,  my  blood  boils,  my  indignation 
is  kindled  against  law  and  legislation,  and  I  sigh  for  one 
sweet  hour  of  converse  with  that  dear  brother,  to  express  my 
sense  of  the  wrongs  he  suffered  from  me,  and  much  more 
from  society.  But,  alas  !  alas  !  this  is  a  work  which  must  be 
postponed  to  the  unknown  of  eternity.  We  had  our  explor- 
ing voyages,  as  we  called  them,  in  one  of  which  we  visited 
the  river  that  bounded  Mapleton  on  the  west.  We  started  at 
early  dawn.  The  night  had  been  rainy.  I  enjoyed  as  never 
before  the  magnificence  of  lake-scenery  :  an  unbroken  wilder- 
ness on  the  one  hand,  a  waste  of  limpid  water  on  the  other, 
with  here  and  there  a  sail  in  the  distance,  which,  through  the 
reflection  and  refraction  of  light  from  a  hazy  atmosphere, 
seemed  floating  among  the  clouds,  a  glorious  illusion.  Beneath 
us  reposed  the  crystal  lake,  whose  deep  bottom  was  so  dis- 
tinctly visible,  through  the  denser  element,  as  to  give  our 
yawl  the  appearance  of  being  also  upborne  in  air,  hanging 
poised  like  a  sea-gull  between  heaven  and  earth.  The  rising 
sun  was  veiled  in  a  curtain  of  rosy  clouds,  while  the  shrill 
note  of  the  loon,  and  the  piercing  scream  of  the  eagle,  and 
the  songs  of  ten  thousand  meaner  birds,  floating  over  the 
watery  expanse  from  the  contiguous  shore  like  the  music  of 
angelic  harps,  added  to  the  deep  bass  of  muttering  thunder 
grumbling  and  bellowing  from  a  black  cloud  in  the  west,  all 
conspired  to  realize  what  the  Arabian  poet  felt  and  sung  : 

'  Bright  smiled  the  morn,  till  o'er  its  head 
The  clouds  in  thickening  foldings  spread 

A  robe  of  sable  hue  ; 

When,  gathering  round  day's  golden  king, 
They  stretched  their  wide  o'erspreading  wing, 

And  hid  him  from  our  view. 


46  MAPLETON;    OR, 

'  The  rain  his  absent  beams  deplored, 
And,  softened  into  weeping,  poured 

Its  tears  in  many  a  flood  ; 
The  lightnings  laughed  in  horrid  glare  ; 
The  thunder  growled  in  rage  ;  the  air 

In  silent  sorrow  stood.' 

"  I  urged  my  weary  brothers  to  increase  the  force  of  their 
oars,  that  Ave  might  hide  ourselves  from  the  gathering  storm 
in  the  channel  of  the  river,  which  was  already  visible,  and 
which  we  were  fortunate  enough  to  reach  before  the  blast 
swept  over  us.  I  had  never  entered  this  inland  channel,  and 
was  not  prepared  for  the  grotesque  scene  which  opened  upon 
my  view.  We  floated  between  high  banks  of  perpendicular 
rocks,  covered  at  the  top  with  tall  trees  inclining  inward,  so 
that  their  branches  seemed  to  meet  and  mingle  over  the 
channel,  forming  a  vast  vegetable  arch,  like  that  of  an  ancient 
Gothic  cathedral.  Everything  above,  beneath,  around,  indi- 
cated the  reign  of  primeval  nature ;  as  if  some  antediluvian 
patriarch  might  have  selected  it  for  his  altar  and  his  shrine. 
I  had  then  thumbed  my  Virgil  enough  to  feel  the  coincidence 
of  the  scene  with  his  description,  beginning 

'  Hinc  atque  hinc  vastse  rapes  geminique  minanter, 
In  coelum  scopuli,  quorum  subvertice  late,'  &c. 

On  this  side  and  that  were  vast  ledges,  and  two  rocks  lifting 
their  menacing  tops  to  heaven,  under  whose  jutting  summits 
the  secure  sea  far  off  reposes  in  silence ;  while  above  was  an 
arbor  in  the  brilliant  trees,  and  a  dark  wood  impended  with 
dismal  shade.  Under  the  opposite  front  a  cave  opened  into 
the  pendent  rocks,  within  which  sweet  waters  are  found  the 
home  of  the  nymphs.  Here  no  chains  hold  the  weather- 
beaten  ships,  and  no  anchor  with  curved  fluke  binds  them  ! 
Was  this  backwoods  scene  reached  by  ^Eneas  in  his  wander- 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  47 

ings  ?  thought  I  to  myself.  I  fancied  myself  an  Argonaut, 
in  pursuit  of  the  golden  fleece ;  and  lived  over  those  charm- 
ing days  when  navigation,  cradled  in  its  tiny  craft  of  bark  or 
skin,  embowered  itself  in  deeply-wooded  bays,  and  threaded 
serpentine  rivers,  under  the  gloom  of  overhanging  forests, 
rarely  adventuring  the  storms  and  quicksands  of  the  open  sea. 

"  My  brothers  here  left  me  to  return  with  the  boat,  while 
I  made  my  way  on  foot,  partly  to  enjoy  the  forest  scenery, 
and  partly  to  do  an  errand  for  my  mother  to  Mrs.  Durham. 
I  followed  up  the  river  a  few  miles,  and  was  still  more  im- 
pressed with  its  scenery.  A  deep  gulf,  ploughed  by  a  giant 
hand,  intersected  a  comparatively  level  country,  opening  a 
passage  for  the  escaping  waters,  which  leaped  from  crag  to 
crag,  in  a  succession  of  thundering  cascades, —  tumbling, 
dashing,  roaring,  foaming,  while  the  eternal  forest  rejoicing 
in  the  sole  monopoly  of  the  river-god,  gave  back  his  voice 
with  exultant  jubilation.  The  proud  divinity  was  yet  unde- 
graded  by  the  servile  work  of  twirling  wheels,  turning  stones, 
forcing  saws,  or  of  ministering  in  any  way  to  those  lordly 
conquerors  who  have  since  despoiled  the  forest  of  its  ancient 
rights.  Here  the  bears  and  wolves  had  their  lair ;  and  here, 
too,  wily  troops  of  naked  savages  performed  their  nocturnal 
orgies.  Here  blood  has  flowed  under  their  teeming  toma- 
hawks. Ye  ledges,  trees  and  cascades,  could  ye  speak  your 
tragic  histories,  what  details  of  anguish  and  woe,  what 
notes  of  captive  sorrow,  what  dire  assault  of  embattled  clans, 
what  visages  of  sullen  despair  and  of  cheerful  hope,  would  ye 
unfold ! 

"  Here  I  diverged  from  the  river,  following  up  a  lateral 
stream,  which  leaped  and  bounded  at  my  feet  on  its  way  to 
mingle  with  the  river  and  the  lake.  I  had  advanced  but  a 
few  miles,  before  a  beautiful  valley,  skirted  with  a  circum- 


48  MAPLETON;    OR, 

vallation  of  hills,  opened  upon  my  view,  and,  near  its 
centre,  I  saw  the  smoke  of  Mr.  Durham's  cottage  rising 
gracefully  among  the  overhanging  trees,  and  settling  round 
upon  the  contiguous  hills.  As  I  approached  the  cottage.  I 
met  Mrs.  Durham  out  among  her  plants,  with  trowel  and 
hoe  in  hand,  loosening  the  earth,  extracting  weeds,  training 
creepers,  and  in  various  ways  assisting  the  efforts  of 
nature.  I  had  seen  little  of  her  at  the  inn ;  and  never,  till 
this  moment,  was  so  impressed  with  her  extreme  loveliness. 
The  abandon  of  her  manner  and  dress,  in  such  a  neglected 
place,  may  have  added  somewhat  to  the  effect.  One  might 
almost  fancy  her  a  Hebe,  a  Ceres,  or  a  Juno  escaped  from 
Olympus,  to  find  a  more  congenial  haunt  towards  the  setting 
of  the  sun.  Her  cheeks  glowed  with  health,  her  eyes  beamed 
contentment ;  and  her  whole  manner  was  that  of  a  beautiful 
woman,  who  had  long  lived  in  peril  of  what  was  dearer  than 
life,  hid  in  a  castellated  tower,  or  securely  wandering  abroad 
to  inhale  the  free  air  and  enjoy  the  boundless  prospect  of 
nature.  The  moment  she  saw  me,  she  ran,  with  delight,  and 
caught  me  by  the  hand,  saying,  { Chai'les,  I  am  delighted 
to  see  you  !  How  is  your  mother  1  how  are  you  all  ? '  I  had 
not  time  to  answer  before  Amelia  and  Lydia,  followed  by 
little  Charley,  came  running  to  give  me  a  kiss, — it  seemed 
to  me  of  joy,  at  this  relief  of  their  solitude. 

"  '  We  are  all  well,  quite  well,'  said  I,  as  soon  as  I  could 
disengage  myself  from  the  children.  '  And  how  do  you  like 
your  new  home  ?  ' 

<:<It  is  everything  we  could  ask,  except  society,' she 
replied,  with  a  look  that  revealed  the  keenness  of  her  feel- 
ings at  such  an  exception. 

"  '  Can't  have  everything  we  want ! '  I  replied. 

"  '  0,  no  ! '  she  added,  with  a  tear ;  '  but  how  hard  it  is  to 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  49 

be  weaned  from  society !  Still,  society  is  our  great  danger. 
You  understand  me.  How  is  your  father  1 ' 

"'  Perfectly  himself,'  said  I;  'attentive  to  his  business; 
seems  happy;  so  we  all  are.' 

"'One  could  wish,'  she  added,  'that  society  had  fewer 
temptations,  that  families  like  ours  could  live  in  it  with 
safety.  But,  so  long  as  governments  uphold  and  protect  what 
is  our  ruin, — yea,  get  a  part  of  their  revenue  out  of  our 
insanity,  our  tears  and  our  infamy, — there  is  no  alternative 
but  escape  and  hermitage.  I  am  convinced  of  this;  and, 
therefore,  am  content  to  forego  home  and  friendship,  and  all 
I  love,  except  the  dear  ones  with  whom  .my  being  is  iden- 
tified.' The  manner  of  her  saying  this  went  to  my  heart. 
What !  laws  such  that  a  lovely  woman,  who  would  grace  a 
palace,  is  compelled  to  seek  security  in  exile  and  banishment ! 
Accursed  legislation  !  how  long  ere  some  truly  Christian  and 
philanthropic  Solon  shall  arise  to  stay  thy  barbarous  hand  ? 
How  long  ere  every  tenth  family  of  a  community  shall  cease 
to  live  in  peril  of  character,  property,  limb  and  life,  from 
the  legalized  abominations  in  the  midst  of  which  they  have 
their  home '?  Never  did  I  feel  the  iniquity  of  the  alcoholic 
traffic  as  I  felt  it  at  seeing  this  voluntary  exile  from  the 
circles  in  which  she  was  born  to  shine, —  this  living,  but 
immolated  victim,  thus  sacrificed  on  principle,  and  by  law  ! 

"  '  My  mother  desired  me  to  say,'  I  added,  '  that  she  has 
in  her  mind  the  plan  for  a  Sunday-school  in  town,  and  wishes 
you  to  join  her  in  it.' 

'"  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  mother's  thoughts  take  a 
direction  so  useful,'  she  replied;  '  and  shall  be  most  happy 
to  aid  her  as  much  as  I  can.  But  are  not  the  people  too 
much  scattered  ? ' 

'"Yours  is  the  only  family,'  said  I,  'which  is  really 
5 


50  MAPLETON;  OR, 

isolated ;  and  my  mother  thought,  if  you  could  attend,  others 
would  be  likely  to.' 

"  '  I  know  we  are  furthest  from  neighbors ;  but  then  we 
have  good  vehicles  and  safe  horses.  Mr.  Durham,  I  know, 
will  be  delighted  to  aid  me  all  in  his  power.  Where  does 
your  mother  propose  to  meet  ? ' 

"  '  At  the  Gore  School-house ;   that  is  the  most  central.' 

"  '  But  when  does  she  begin? ' 

" '  Next  Sabbath  she  proposes  to  meet  you  and  a  few  others 
to  arrange  matters.' 

"  'Very  well, — I  will  be  there,'  she  added;  when  I  thanked 
her,  and  turned  to  go. 

"  '  No,  don't  leave  yet ;    walk  with  me  into  the  garden.' 

"  I  did  so,  and  was  delighted  with  the  scene  of  beauty  which 
it  presented.  Mrs.  Durham  had  brought  with  her  the  plants 
of  an  amply  furnished  green-house,  to  which  she  had  added 
a  great  variety  of  flowering  annuals,  and  almost  all  the  wild- 
flowers  of  the  country.  She  led  me  round  among  them,  and 
called  my  attention  to  their  varied  beauties.  Here  the  prim- 
rose spread  its  open  petals  to  the  light ;  there  the  variegated 
japonica,  with  a  delightful  blending  of  red  and  white,  exulted 
in  its  gaudy  attire.  Here  the  alba  plus,  with  its  large  flower 
of  virgin'  whiteness,  nature's  token  of  purity  and  innocence, 
seemed  a  direct  offshoot  of  the  plants  which  bloomed  under 
the  hand  of  a  sinless  Eve ;  there  the  japonicus  elegans 
lifted  its  lofty  branches  on  high,  all  clothed  in  scarlet  and 
gold.  Here  the  ranunculus  revealed  its  incarnations,  with 
various  hues  of  loveliness  ;  there  the  calla  Ethiopica,  the 
verbena,  and  numerous  varieties  of  the  cactus,  the  geranium 
and  the  rose ;  and  an  assemblage  of  beauties,  indigenous  and 
exotic,  too  great  to  be  particularized,  added  its  own  pecu- 
liar form  of  enchantment  to  the  transporting  scene.  Her 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        51 

husband  had  begun  a  plain  but  convenient  receptacle  for 
those  among  them  that  could  not  endure  the  winter,  where 
his  wife  might  still  enjoy  her  plants  and  her  flowers  during 
these  lonely  months  of  her  exile  and  her  solitude.  He 
appeared  to  have "  been  the  more  careful  to  provide  for  her 
these  means  of  alleviation,  from  a  consciousness  that  he  was 
the  cause  of  her  banishment." 


CHAPTER  V. 

A   TOWN   WITHOUT   ALCOHOL. 

"  When  fierce  Temptation,  seconded  within 
By  traitor  Appetite,  and  armed  with  darts 
Tempered  in  hell,  invades  the  throbbing  breast, 
To  combat  may  be  glorious,  and  success 
Perhaps  may  crown  us  ;  but  to  fly  is  safer." —  COWPER. 

MR.  DURHAM'S  farm  was  surrounded  by  lands  held  by 
distant  owners  who  would  not  sell,  which  accounts  for  the 
extreme  isolation  in  which  his  family  lived.  They  had  not 
a  neighbor  within  two  miles.  Their  experience,  after  leaving 
the  groggery,  was  not  unlike  that  of  the  Douglasses,  except 
that  the  temper  of  Durham  himself  was  never  moody,  but 
always  cheerful  and  buoyant.  He  had  so  far  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  the  poison  by  noon  as  to  manage  his  own  team, 
and  entered  into  free  conversation  with  his  wife  on  the  events 
of  the  preceding  night.  He  said,  "Will  you  believe  me, 
clearest,  that  I  entered  the  miserable  place  with  a  fixed 
resolution  that  I  would  not  taste  a  drop?  " 
"Why,  then,  Charles,  did  you  not  keep  it?" 
"  Because  the  smell  of  brandy  produced  a  total  oblivion 


52  MAPLETON;    OB, 

of  the  motives  to  keep  it.  The  associations  revived  by  meet- 
ing my  old  friend  also  had  their  effect." 

"  An  oblivion  of  the  motives  to  virtue,  Charles, —  that  is  it. 
It  is  the  only  explanation  of  what  I  have  seen  in  you  over 
and  over  again.  I  cannot  understand  it.  How  could  it 
be  so,  if  you  really  loved  me  and  your  children?  How 
could  you  do  what  you  know  disgraces  us,  and  makes  us 
miserable?" 

"  Think  not,  my  dearest  Amelia,  that  it  is  a  want  of  love 
to  you  and  our  little  ones.  No ;  I  love  you  as  I  do  my  own 
soul, —  I  could  die  for  you.  I  do  verily  believe  that  if  a 
loaded  pistol  were  pointed  at  me,  and  I  knew  that  the  first 
drop  I  tasted  would  discharge  its  contents  into  my  heart,  it 
would  be  no  restraint,  in  that  state  of  mind,  to  my  drinking. 
I  should  be  so  exclusively  absorbed  by  my  appetite,  and  the 
means  of  its  gratification,  as  not  to  regard  my  own  life  more 
than  I  regard  you  and  the  children.  Nothing  but  a  physical 
impossibility,  my  dear  Amelia,  can  keep  me  from  drinking. 
I  am  convinced  of  this,  and  rejoice  more  than  I  can  express 
that  we  are  at  length  in  these  woods,  so  many  miles  from  the 
temptation." 

"Well,  Charles,  I  rejoice  too.  The  sacrifice  of  friendship 
and  society  is  nothing  compared  with  the  pleasure  of  feeling 
that  you  are  free  from  the  fetters  which  have  so  long  held 
you.  I  can  work.  I  will  do  all  in  my  power  to  help  you 
cultivate  the  farm.  We  can  do  it,  Charles, —  we  can  do  it. 
We  can  be  virtuous  and  happy.  Yes,  yes,  we  shall  be, —  1 
know  we  shall  be;  and  that  reconciles  me  to  the  loss  of  father, 
mother,  brother,  sister,  yea,  all  the  dear  associates  of  my 
youth;"  and,  as  she  said  it,  her  eyes  paid  the  tribute  of 
tears  to  her  conjugal  devotion. 

"  We  shall  not  be  safe,  Amelia,  if  the  serpent  enters  our 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  53 

Eden.  I  blush  to  confess,  what  I  know  is  true,  that  I  cannot 
be  trusted  with  the  enemy  in  town.  My  nature  has  no 
security  on  this  point.  '  Lead  me  not  into  temptation'  is  a 
prayer  which  can  never  be  answered  with  the  destroyer  near 
me.  I  am  not  proof  against  the  temptation." 

"  I  know  it,  Charles,  and  I  will  raise  the  cry  of  murder 
against  the  man  who  introduces  it.  Making  or  vending  the 
poison  by  the  glass  or  by  the  pipe  is  just  as  fatal  to  us,  and 
our  children,  as  the  assassin's  dagger.  Better  kill  us  out- 
right, than  doom  us  to  this  disgraceful,  protracted,  tormenting 
death." 

Thus  they  whiled  away  the  hours  of  their  ride,  till  at  length 
they  reached  the  cottage,  which  had  been  built  for  their  recep- 
tion by  a  faithful  laborer,  who  had  been  sent  on  several  months 
in  advance  of  them.  It  was  of  logs,  hewed  only  on  the  insidej 
with  a  large  room  for  the  family,  and  two  contiguous  ones 
for  sleeping  apartments.  Above,  also,  was  a  provision  for 
lodging  laborers  and  servants,  though  their  purpose  was  to 
live  within  themselves  as  much  as  possible.  Mrs.  Durham 
had  resolved  to  be  her  own  servant,  and  her  husband  his  own 
farmer,  except  so  far  as  clearing  the  land  was  concerned ; 
which  could  be  done  by  the  job,  without  increasing  their  own 
family.  It  was  a  hard  task  for  persons  bred  in  the  lap  of 
luxury  and  fashion ;  but  the  security  of  being  in  a  town  with- 
out alcohol  more  than  compensated  for  the  trouble.  It  was 
not  till  several  years  after  this  that  the  enemy  stole  in  upon 
them,  to  deface  the  fair  form  of  virgin  nature.  Till  then,  all 
was  prosperous.  The  population  grew  with  unprecedented 
rapidity.  "The  period  decreed  by  fate"  had  arrived  now 
first  from  the  world's  foundation  for  man  to  "subdue  and 
replenish"  this  uncultivated  wild.  Men  seemed  to  drop 
down  from  the  clouds,  and  every  farm  of  fifty  or  a  hun- 
5* 


{.)•!  MAPLETON  ;    OK, 

dred  acres  found  a  family  to  cultivate  it.  Axe  resounded  to 
axe,  crash  to  crash  of  falling  trees,  and  horn  to  horn,  calling 
the  weary  vroodmen  to  their  frugal  meal.  0,  woodman's 
axe !  in  what  family  escutcheon  on  our  wide  continent  hast 
thou  not  earned  the  first  place  ?  The  soul  of  poetry  is  in 
the  sheen  of  thy  labor-polished  face.  Thou  art  the  harbinger 
of  civilization,  from  Labrador  to  Mexico,  and  from  the  Atlan- 
tic to  California.  Relic  of  rural  life  !  thy  voice  falls  more 
sweetly  on  my  ear  than  lute  or  harp.  Thou  art  the  memento 
of  bold  adventure,  of  hardy  endurance,  of  rural  virtue,  of 
coarse  fare,  and  of  new-country  life, — the  incipient  stages  of 
that  process  which  has  given  birth  to  a  great  nation  ! 

The  cottage  of  the  Durhams  stood  by  a  clear  running 
brook,  which  rippled  and  murmured  among  the  stones  as  it 
passed,  to  lull  to  repose  at  night,  and  to  form  the  interlude 
and  undertone  of  the  bird-song  of  the  morning.  It  afforded, 
also,  the'  more  substantial  advantage  of  sweet  water  for  the 
use  of  the  family.  As  it  was  seed-time  when  they  arrived, 
Mrs.  Durham  neglected  the  arrangement  of  her  furniture  till 
she  had  sowed  and  planted  her  garden,  of  which  we  have 
already  taken  some  notice.  An  acre  of  land  contiguous  to 
the  house  had  been  cleared  of  stumps  and  roots  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  was  now  prepared  to  receive  the  vegetable  seeding 
and  planting;  and  also  the  bulbous  roots,  roses  and  pinks,  and 
all  the  greenhouse  treasures,  with  which  Mrs.  Durham  had 
come  so  amply  furnished.  The  season  was  favorable,  and  the 
virgin  soil  soon  shot  forth  its  forms  of  life,  beauty  and  useful- 
ness, to  bless  the  eye  and  gladden  the  heart  of  its  charming 
cultivator.  Flowers  appeared  in  a  few  weeks,  nor  did  they 
fail  till  nipped  by  the  frosts  of  approaching  winter ;  and  then 
Mr.  Durham's  unpretending  conservatory  was  prepared  to 
perpetuate  their  bloom,  in  delightful  contrast  to  the  snow-clad, 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  55 

tempest-stirring  winter.  Her  dahlias  were  rich  and  beautiful 
beyond  anything  she  had  ever  seen. 

A  fine  field  of  growing  wheat  was  already  on  the  ground, 
to  which  Mr.  Durham  added  corn,  oats,  potatoes,  and  what- 
ever else  seemed  necessary  to  the  subsistence  or  comfort  of 
his  family.  Much  of  the  time  of  Mrs.  Durham  was  devoted 
to  the  instruction  of  her  children,  home  education  being  now 
more  a  matter  of  necessity  than  of  choice.  Her  little  Amelia 
—  the  eldest  —  had  all  the  fine  points  of  her  mother's  char- 
acter, added  to  the  buoyancy  and  excellent  temper  of  her 
father.  Lydia,  her  sister,  was  more  sedate,  and,  withal,  apt 
to  learn  above  children  of  her  years.  Little  Charles,  now 
only  two  years  old,  completed  the  group ;  and  a  happier  is 
rarely  met  with,  apart  from  the  single  danger  from  which 
they  could  never  and  nowhere  feel  themselves  absolutely  safe. 
Lifting  up  his  hands  over  his  breakfast-table  one  morning, 
Mr.  Durham  exclaimed,  "  Thank  God !  I  have  not  a  drop  of 
the  poison  in  my  veins." 

"  Papa,"  said  little  Amelia,  in  her  simplicity,  "  what  makes 
us  so  much  happier  here  than  we  used  to  be  in  our  old  home'? 
It  is  not  so  pretty,  and  I  thought  we  should  be  homesick." 

"It  is  because  our  ways  please  God  better,  my  child," 
replied  her  mother.  "How  does  the  Bible  say  it  shall  be 
with  a  man,  when  his  ways  please  the  Lord  ?  " 

"  0  !  I  remember,"  said  Lydia  ;  "I  learned  it  in  my  les- 
son, last  Sabbath :  '  If  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  he 
inaketh  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him.'  We  don't 
have  any  enemies  now,  do  ^e,  mamma?  "  added  the  child. 

"  What  did  you  learn  in  your  lesson,  Milly  ?  "  said  Mrs. 
Durham. 

Milly's  face  fairly  sparkled  with  smiles,  as  she  repeated, 
"  There  is  no  want  to  them  that  fear  Him." 


56  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

"And  it  says,  too,"  added  Lydia,  "  '  0,  how  great  is  thy 
goodness  which  thou  hast  provided  for  them  that  fear  thee  ! '  " 

' '  That 's  a  nice  child ! ' '  said  her  father,  clasping  her  fondly  in 
his  arms.  "You  do  not  forget  your  dear  mamma's  lessons ! " 
—  lessons  which  show  what  a  constant  resort  she  found  nec- 
essary, in  her  loneliness,  to  the  consoling  promises  of  God's 
word.  Still,  they  were  a  happy  family.  Joy  and  gladness 
presided  at  their  board.  Though  shut  out  from  the  polite 
world,  they  were  still  happy  in  each  other,  and  happy  in  their 
daily  duties  and  labors.  Mr.  Durham  read  the  Scriptures, 
morning  and  evening,  in  his  family ;  but  was  too  much  im- 
pressed with  the  guilt  of  his  past  habits  to  admit  of  his  going 
further,  and  acting  as  the  priest  of  his  own  house.  His  wife 
did  all  she  could  to  encourage  him,  and  to  induce  him  fully  to 
commit  himself  before  his  family  and  the  world  to  a  religious 
life.  But  it  was  all  to  no  purpose  ;  for  he  felt,  if  he  did  not 
say,  "How  will  praying  appear  in  a  drunkard?"  This 
backwardness  was  a  fault  of  his,  indicating  a  secret  reserve  in 
behalf  of  temptation,  in  the  event  of  its  becoming  strong, 
which  may  account  in  part  for  what  follows.  He  ought  not 
only  to  have  passed  over  the  river  into  a  land  of  temperance 
and  religion,  but  burnt  the  bridges  behind  him,  and  cut  off 
the  possibility  of  escape.  The  associations  of  a  decidedly 
religious  position,  to  say  nothing  of  the  help  that  it  brings 
from  above,  are  a  source  of  security  to  which  men  of  such  pro- 
pensities have  the  more  need  to  resort.  But  he  eschewed  all 
such  helps,  and  never  rose  above  those  motives  to  virtue 
which  are  derived  from  prudential  considerations.  Genuine 
piety  to  God  did  not  enter  into  the  list. 

Still,  both  he  and  his  old  friend  and  present  neighbor, 
Douglass,  were  active  in  establishing  public  worship  in  their 
town.  Their  wives,  though  five  miles  apart,  felt  themselves 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  -  57 

near  neighbors.  Neighborhood,  in  a  new  country,  compre- 
hends a  wider  area  than  in  more  densely  populated  towns. 
Persons  at  twenty  or  thirty  miles  remove,  often  associate  as 
neighbors.  Mrs.  Douglass  and  Mrs.  Durham  were  much  in 
each  other's  society.  They  projected  together,  with  the 
advice  of  a  few  others,  the  plan  of  their  contemplated  Sun- 
day-school, which  became  the  nucleus  of  a  church,  and  even 
of  a  renewed  attention  to  general  education  in  Mapleton.  It 
first  brought  the  children  together  on  the  Sabbath,  then  their 
parents,  and  finally  Mr.  Douglass  volunteered  his  services  in 
reading  sermons  to  the  assembled  multitude.  Few  were  more 
competent  or  expressive  readers  than  he.  Sometimes  exhort- 
ations were  given,  and  prayers  offered,  by  those  who  had  the 
confidence  for  such  services.  These  were  only  occasional. 
The  chief  burden  of  giving  interest  to  the  gathering  devolved 
upon  Mrs.  Douglass  and  her  accomplished  friend,  whose 
sweetness  of  deportment,  intelligence  of  conversation,  and 
unaffected  piety  of  heart,  won  for  her  not  only  the  affections 
of  the  children,  but  the  respect  of  their  parents  and  of  the 
whole  town.  They  collected  a  well-stored  juvenile  library, 
which  produced  in  almost  every  family  a  taste  for  reading, 
and  thus  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  elevation  of  the  peo- 
ple. These  ladies  were  the  animating  soul  of  the  movement, 
—  the  Aaron  and  Hur  to  sustain  its  uplifted  hands,  and  secure 
for  it  the  public  confidence.  Mrs.  Douglass,  who  was  the 
senior  of  her  friend  by  some  years,  and  withal,  as  the  daughter 
of  a  clergyman,  much  more  experienced  in  such  matters,  was 
the  priestess  of  the  town.  She  was  the  ministering  angel  to 
the  sick,  and  the  lady  confessor,  so  to  speak,  of  the  dying. 
She  would  say  to  her  husband,  who  was  always  doubtful  as 
to  their  doing  any  good  to  the  people,  "We  shall  win  them 


58  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

yet,  there  's  no  doubt.  No  people  are  proof  against  kindness 
and  sincerity." 

"  0,  Mary  ! "  he  would  say,  "all  are  not  like  you.  I  -wish 
in  my  soul  they  were ;  we  should  then  have  a  happier  world. 
You  are  a  prodigy,  in  your  way ;  you  '11  do  your  part,  there  's 
not  a  doubt." 

"My  dear  George,  you  are  very  complimentary,"  she 
said  ;  "  but  I  do  not  think  there  is  anything  extraordinary  in 
me.  It  is  in  my  training.  The  same  training  would  have 
made  nine  in  ten  of  the  people  as  good  or  better  than  I  am. 
We  do  not  consider  how  much  we  owe  to  circumstances ;  and 
what  have  we  that  we  have  not  received? " 

While  things  were  thus  in  Mapleton,  Providence  kindly 
sent  help  to  those  who  were  so  assiduous  in  helping  them- 
selves. A  man  removed  to  town  by  the  name  of  James  Lit- 
tlefield, —  not  a  preacher,  but  of  a  blameless  life  and  exalted 
piety,  and  withal  of  very  respectable  gifts  as  a  public  speaker. 
He  was  poor  in  this  world's  goods ;  had  a  feeble  wife,  with  three 
dependent  children,  AY  horn  he  supported  by  day-labor,  not 
having  means  to  purchase  land  of  his  own.  So  great  was  his 
usefulness  in  conducting  the  public  worship  of  the  town,  how- 
ever, that  the  hearts  of  the  people  seemed  to  centre  upon  him 
as  their  pastor  to  visit  their  sick  and  bury  their  dead ;  and 
they  not  only  contributed  to  his  support  from  the  products 
of  their  farms,  but  even  made  the  first  payment  on  a  home- 
stead for  him,  and  put  him  in  a  way  to  pay  the  rest.  It  is 
natural  to  a  community  to  desire  some  one  to  have  a  special 
care  of  their  spiritual  interests ;  and,  when  they  have  no  reg- 
ular minister,  it  is  highly  proper  to  select  one  from  among 
themselves,  in  whom  they  may  have  confidence,  to  take  this 
office  and  ministration  upon  him.  Mr.  Littlefield  was  a  mod- 
est man,  and  used  sometimes  to  say  to  Mrs.  Douglass,  "I 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  59 

never  rise  to  speak  in  public  when  my  knees  do  not  smite 
together  like  Belshazzar's." 

"Let  them  smite,"  said  Mrs.  Douglass;  "it  can  do  no 
hurt,  so  long  as  your  tongue  does  not  forget  its  cunning,  nor 
your  heart  to  indite  good  matter.  You  have  succeeded  thus 
far  beyond  our  hopes.  I  am  no  flatterer ;  but,  in  my  sober 
judgment,  Mr.  Littlefield,  you  are  more  competent  to  teach 
this  people  religion  than  nine-tenths  of  our  preachers,  take 
them  as  they  rise.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who  meas- 
ure the  supply  of  laborers  by  the  number  of  students  in  our 
seminaries.  Meagre  supply,  indeed,  and  many  of  them  quite 
inefficient,  when  you  get  them.  You  have  more  experience 
of  the  truth,  though  less  professional  mannerism ;  and  all  the 
better  for  that.  You  understand  the  people,  and  they  under- 
stand you,  because  you  are  one  of  them.  You  touch  their 
sympathies,  and  suit  yourself  to  their  habits  of  thinking.  I 
always  hated  measuring  off  devotion  by  rule,  as  a  merchant 
does  his  cloth.  I  cannot  endure  sermons  addressed  to  the 
man  in  the  moon,  or  to  the  people  before  the  flood,  or  to  a 
collection  of  imaginary  savans,  instead  of  talking  to  the  living 
masses  before  you." 

Mrs.  Douglass  was  right.  Her  practical  good  sense  looked 
intuitively  into  matters  of  fact.  The  people  were  won. 
They  thronged  the  place  of  worship  to  hear  the  truth  from 
Mr.  Littlefield's  lips.  Mapleton  had  a  Sabbath,  priest,  sanc- 
tuary, and  ritual.  It  had  a  pastor,  a  library,  an  altar,  and  a 
Sunday-school.  But,  thank  God !  it  had  yet  no  groggery. 
The  poison  was  not  sold  within  its  limits,  nor  to  be  met  with 
in  its  families.  ^The  people  were  not  all  pious,  it  is  true  ; 
but,  in  the  absence  of  that  universal  agent  of  impiety  and 
crime,  they  were  decent,  orderly,  and  respectful  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  religion.  Schools  were  established  at  convenient 


60  MAPLETON;  OR, 

places  ;  and,  though  a  new  country,  the  children  availed  them- 
selves with  much  avidity  of  the  means  of  instruction,  and 
became  even  more  intelligent  and  better-behaved  than  in  older 
and  more  favored  towns. 

There  were,  indeed,  infidel  families,  and  plenty  of  combus- 
tible material  to  kindle  at  the  touch  of  one  spark  from  the  all- 
consuming  alcoholic  furnace.  One  groggery  —  one  —  would 
be  enough  to  deface  the  fair  aspect  of  things,  and  fill  the  town 
with  devils.  Among  the  number  of  the  above  description  was 
a  family  by  the  name  of  Jollops.  In  a  conversation  with  his 
venerable  neighbor,  Robson,  old  Mr.  Jollops  remarked,  "I 
did  hope  I  'd  got  beyond  the  reach  of  this  'ere  religion,  when 
I  came  into  the  woods;  but  it  pursues  me  like  a  terrier." 

"  Get  beyond  religion  !  "  replied  Robson.  "  Why  not  get 
beyond  air  and  sunshine  ?  Why  not  steal  the  march  upon 
your  own  nature?"  . 

"  Fie  on  my  natur  ! "  said  Jollops ;  "  there  's  no  religion 
in  't  more  than  juice  in  a  husk.  Sabbaths,  meetings,  preach- 
ing, and  all  sich,  can't  squeeze  it  into  me,  nor  out  on  me,  any 
way." 

"  Are  you  a  brute?  None  but  brutes  are  without  religion. 
The  trees,  the  birds,  the  clouds,  the  waterfalls,  were  here 
before  the  Douglasses,  Durhams  and  Littlefields,  and  did  far 
more  to  make  us  religious.  The  roar  of  the  surf  on  the 
beach  has  more  worship  in  it  than  all  their  psalmody." 

"Yes,  heathen;  that  's  what  Littlefield  calls  it." 

"  Well,  it 's  good  enough  for  me;  and  you  'd  feel  so  too, 
if  you  had  a  soul  in  you  as  big  as  the  point  of  a  mosquitos' 
probe." 

"0  you  're  a  philosopher!"  said  Jollops,  sneeringly. 
"  Guess  my  soul  's  as  large  as  your  untempered  mosquitos' 
bills, —  ha,  ha,  ha  ! "  he  added,  alluding  to  a  quaint  theory  of 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  61 

Robson,  that  it  took  a  young  mosquito  some  time,  after 
coming  out  of  his  watery  womb,  to  get  his  bill  hard  enough 
to  bite. 

"  Your  skull  is  thick  as  an  ass's  !  "  said  Robson. 

"  Yes,  too  thick  for  your  worship  of  trees.  You  never  go 
to  meeting  more  than  I.  The  woods  and  mosquitos  are 
your  organ,  priest,  and  Bible.  Well,  I  care  not  how  much 
sich  religion  we  have ;  it  won't  stick  to  one's  conscience,  more 
than  water  to  a  goose's  back." 

Thus  the  roots  of  vice  and  impiety  were  not  dead,  but 
only  kept  under  by  the  absence  of  alcohol, —  that  bane  of 
social  order, —  and  by  the  predominance  of  another  class  of 
influences.  The  smothered  embers  of  vice  were  pot  confined 
to  a  Douglass  or  a  Durham,  but  were  latent  in  many  a  con- 
stitution, by  inheritance  or  by  former  indulgence ;  and  nothing 
was  necessary  to  make  them  flame  up,  with  universal  desola- 
tion, but  the  vent  and  occasions  of  temptation. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  OUTPOSTS  OF  THE  ENEMY  AT  LENGTH  APPEAR. 

"  Wherever  God  erects  a  house  of  prayer, 
The  devil  always  builds  a  chapel  there ; 
And  't  will  he  found,  upon  examination, 
The  latter  has  the  larger  congregation." — DEFOE. 

BY  an  accident,  from  which  Charles  escaped  barely  with  life, 

three  things  opened  upon  him. —  a  little  friend,  a  college  course, 

and  a  Mapleton  groggery.      The  first  caused  pleasure,  the 

second  labor,  and  the  third  ruin.     Such  are  the  ingredients 

6 


62  MAPLETON;    OH, 

of  which  the  cup  of  life  is  compounded, --pleasure,  labor, 
ruin.  The  circumstances  which  led  to  the  accident  we  will 
detail  in  his  own  words ;  as  who  knows  better  than  one's  self 
his  boyhood's  experiences? 

"As  to  myself,"  he  says,  "I  must  confess  to  a  foolish  feeling 
of  'mortification,  that  my  mother's  exertions  and  my  father's 
sermon-reading  gave  our  family  a  sort  of  clerical  reputation 
in  town.  Perhaps  the  secret  of  it  might  be,  in  part,  the 
incongruity  of  my  father's  previous  habits  with  his  present 
position.  True,  his  Mapleton  reputation  was  untarnished, 
and  his  affairs  prosperous ;  but  my  mother  and  I  knew  we 
were  building  on  a  volcano.  The  smothered  embers  of  his 
former  vice,  needed  only  the  contact  of  a  groggery  to  flame 
up  for  the  ruin  of  his  family,  and  make  him  in  the  same 
degree  odious  as  he  now  enjoyed  honor  as  a  virtuous  and 
useful  citizen.  The  experiment  of  new-country  farming, 
so  far,  succeeded  beyond  our  hopes.  We  harvested  fifty 
acres  of  wheat  the  summer  after  our  arrival,  as  the  fruits 
of  a  former  seeding ;  and  we  got  in  one  hundred  acres  the 
same  autumn.  The  price  of  wheat  was  high,  and  our  in- 
come far  exceeded  our  expenses.  Our  neighbor  Durham 
did  as  well  accordingly,  but  had  not  an  equal  amount  of 
land  or  labor. 

"  My  heart  bleeds  at  the  pangs  of  fear  with  which  my 
poor  mother  was  afflicted,  from  her  sense  of  the  danger  to 
which  prosperity  would  expose  my  father.  She  knew  that 
the  more  easy  his  circumstances,  the  more  likely  he  would  be 
to  drink,  in  case  any  strong  temptation  came  in  his  way. 
Our  very  success  seemed  to  her  a  lure  to  destruction.  I  was 
her  eldest  child,  and  the  only  person  in  town,  except  Mrs. 
Durham,  to  whom  she  intrusted  her  thoughts.  With  tears 
in  her  eyes,  she  said,  '  Charles,  my  son,  we  must  not  flatter 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAIXE  LAW.        63 

ourselves ;  we  have  no  security.  Next  year,  or  even  next 
month,  may  plunge  us  into  the  abyss.  There  is  no  hope 
that  this  wicked  traffic,  protected  as  it  is  by  law,  and  licensed 
by  the  state,  will  not  find  its  way  into  a  town  becoming  thus 
populous  and  wealthy.  We  are  building  over  a  magazine  of 
po\vder,  and  men  are  encouraged  by  legislation  to  set  it  on 
fire  and  blow  us  all  to  ruin.  There  is  more  safety  in  a  battle- 
field. Yes,  Charles ;  much  as  I  hate  war,  I  should  feel  more 
secure  if  we  were  all  soldiers  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle 
than  with  this  alcoholic  traffic  among  us.' 

"  ' Mother,'  I  replied,  ' is  your  piety  no  security? ' 

"  '  Yes,  my  son;  if  it  is  sincere,  it  may  support  me  under 
this  trial  of  trials ;  but  it  has  no  power  over  your  father's 
infirmity.' 

"  '  What!  is  there  nothing  we  can  do  to  secure  him?  Can 
we  not  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  traffic,  by  timely 
remonstrance  ? ' 

"'This  is  more  than  I  expect,  —  an  example  without  a 
precedent  in  our  state.  Here  is  an  open  field,  where  money 
may  be  made  by  selling  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  somebody's 
cupidity  must,  sooner  or  later,  discover  and  supply  the 
market.' 

':  '  But  perhaps  father  has  seen  the  evil  of  drinking  so 
much  as  to  resist  the  temptation.' 

"  '  Had  you  seen  what  I  have,  my  son,  you  would  not  think 
so.  There  are  tens  of  thousands,  who  have  as  many  induce- 
ments to  temperance  as  he  has,  ruining  their  families  by 
drinking.  Besides,  he  has  never  yet  been  exposed  to  a  strong 
temptation,  when  he  did  not  fall.  He  thinks  he  will  not, 
before-hand,  but  he  always  does.  There  is  no  hope,  with  the 
traffic  amonof  us.' 

O 

"  '  What  can  be  done ?     Must  we  stand  still  and  perish? ' 


64  MAPLETON;  OR, 

"  '  My  advice  is  that  you  leave  soon  for  college.  You  are 
now  fitted  for  an  advanced  standing.  You  may  thus  turn 
our  present  prosperity  to  the  advantage  of  completing  your 
education,  before  adversity  comes  to  defeat  the  hope  of  your 
life.  Better  that  our  surplus  means  should  go  so,  than  to 
be  on  hand  to  be  wasted  by  and  by.' 

"I  did  not,  at  the  time,  realize  our  danger  to  the  same 
extent  that  my  mother  did.  I  only  thought  father  had  better 
let  preaching  alone,  and  take  more  to  practice.  I  agreed 
with  our  neighbor  Robson,  that  the  religion  of  nature  was 
enough.  I  could  not  see  why  there  should  be  so  much  effort 
to  cultivate  a  plant  that  grows  spontaneously.  At  all  events, 
I  had  so  much  apprehension  in  reference  to  my  father's 
habits,  that  I  felt  a  decided  repugnance  to  his  having  any 
very  conspicuous  share  in  the  religious  worship  of  our  town. 
I  suppose  it  was  foolish  of  me,  but  I  could  not  help  it  as  I 
then  felt. 

"  While  things  were  thus  situated,  it  happened,  on  a  quiet 
Sabbath  morning,  that  I  was  awakened  at  dawn  by  the  robins 
and  blue-birds  warbling  their  matin  song  in  the  pendent 
branches  around  our  house.  I  listened  for  a  time  in  a  dreamy 
state  between  sleeping  and  waking.  My  mind  was  the  home 
of  beauty.  I  lived  over  a  paradisiacal  life.  I  thought  of  the 
Fauns,  and  Naiads,  and  Nymphs,  with  which  a  Grecian 
imagination  had  peopled  earth  and  ocean.  Passing  droves  of 
deer,  just  escaped  from  their  mossy  couches,  flitted  before  my 
view.  Instead  of  robins  and  blue-birds  alone,  I  fancied  that 
all  the  birds  of  song,  in  the  glory  of  their  variegated 
plumage,  were  serenading  me ;  and  a  dreamy  conceit  invested 
them  with  intelligence,  as  if  happy  spirits  from  a  higher  world 
•were  filling  my  soul  with  their  more  heavenly  beauty  and 
melody.  I  shouted  in  an  ecstasy  of  delight,  and  the  effort 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        65 

roused  me  to  consciousness.  I  arose  and  looked  out  of  the 
bay-window,  to  survey  the  lake  scenery.  It  had  put  on  more 
than  its  usual  charms.  It  reposed  before  me  sublimely  calm, 
as  if  conscious  of  its  own  dignity.  '  The  East  had  decked 
herself  in  orient  pearl  and  gold.'  Sublime  and  beautiful  as 
the  morning  is  in  every  other  clime,  it  has  here  unusual 
elements  of  loveliness.  Whether  from  the  nature  of  the 
exhalations,  the  conflict  of  aerial  currents,  or  other  causes, 
it  is  a  fact  -of  general  observation,  that  the  solar  rays,  as  they 
approximate  the  horizontal  plane,  both  in  rising  and  setting, 
produce,  in  this  our  new  home,  extraordinary  combinations 
of  beauty.  Their  reflection  from  the  lake,  on  this  occasion, 
lent  enchantment  to  my  mind.  Painted  clouds  and  over- 
hanging forests,  reflected  from  the  quiet  water,  whose  smooth 
surface,  here  and  there  variegated  with  gentle  ripples  from 
light  flaws  of  air,  like  etchings  on  polished  steel,  altogether 
produced  a  scene  of  loveliness  to  attract  and  entrance  minds 
far  less  susceptible  than  my  own.  How  touching,  how 
truthful,  how  eloquent,  are  nature's  appeals  to  the  senses  of 
man  !  Who,  that  should  once  inhale  the  pure  vapors  of  such 
a  morning,  could  breathe  again  the  infected  haunts  of  riot 
and  dissipation  7  Who  can  turn  away  from  the  pure  foun- 
tains of  joy  and  blessedness,  which  God  has  opened  in  this 
sweet  land,  to  those  stimulating  potions  from  which  vice 
derives  its  maddening  inspiration  7 

"  My  heart  overflowed  with  the  delightful  associations  of 
such  a  morning.  My  dream  was  reality.  Angels  did, 
indeed,  nestle  in  the  rosy  clouds  on  which  I  was  gazing.  The 
2Eolian  breezes  whispered  in  my  ear  notes  from  their  lyres. 
In  the  height  of  this  ecstatic  feeling  the  bark  of  our  dog, 
'Watch,'  broke  upon  my  ear.  'Watch  never  barks  like 
this,'  said  I  to  myself,  'when  a  deer  is  not  in  pursuit.  Watch 
6* 


60  MAPLETON;   OR, 

will  have  him,  for  he  never  gives  over.'  Watch  was  a  Bu- 
cephalus among  dogs,  and  equally  deserving  with  that  famed 
steed  of  immortality.  His  spotted  coat  and  noble  form  had  a 
charm  to  my  eye  which  those  will  appreciate  who  know  what 
it  is  to  love  a  dog.  His  bark  was  shrill  as  a  silver  trumpet, 
clear  and  distinct  as  a  vesper-bell,  and  was  never  heard  with- 
out touching  my  soul  with  fire  to  engage  with  him  in  his 
favorite  pursuit  of  the  bounding  deer.  In  an  instant.  I 
passed  from  angelic  communion  to  the  fellowship  of  brutes 
and  the  furor  of  the  chase.  I  bounded  from  my  room  like 
an  arrow,  and  ran  to  a  cove  a  mile  east  of  my  father's,  where 
I  stood  listening  to  the  baying  of  a  hundred  dogs,  who  had 
by  this  time  joined  the  pursuit. 

'  Yelled  on  the  view  the  opening  pack,  — 
Rock,  glen  and  cavern,  paid  them  back; 
To  many  a  mingled  sound  at  once 
The  awakened  forest  gave  response.' 

"The  deer,  as  usual,  sought  the  lake,  to  escape  the  dogs 
by  swimming.  Canaudeh,  my  nocturnal  acquaintance,  met 
him  at  the  pass  (as  a  certain  part  of  a  hunting-ground  is 
called),  where  he  snapped  his  rifle,  missed  fire,  and  away  flew 
the  buck  like  a  thing  of  air. 

"I  stood  for  a  moment,  when  the  noble  denizen  of  the 
forest,  with  great  branching  horns,  swept  past  me  and  plunged 
into  the  lake.  I  sprang  to  the  beach,  crying  out,  at  the  top 
of  my  voice,  '  A  deer,  a  deer  ! '  Canaudeh  soon  appeared, 
and,  taking  me  into  his  canoe,  we  renewed  the  chase  on  the 
lake.  I  reclined  in  the  bow  with  withe  in  hand,  as  the 
instrument  to  take  the  deer  with  was  called.  It  was  made 
of  a  long,  tough  sapling,  trimmed  of  all  its  branches  except 
the  two  principal  ones,  which  were  twisted  together  at  the 
ends  so  as  to  form  a  loop  of  sufficient  capacity  to  go  over  the 


M011E   WORK   FOR  THE    MAINE   LAW.  67 

head  of  the  animal,  and  hold  him  tight,  being  fastened  round 
his  neck.  We  soon  came  up  with  the  poor  deer,  whose  pow- 
erful sinews  propelled  him  with  such  force  that  nearly  half 
his  body  was  driven  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  surf 
rolling  from  him  either  way,  his  mouth  open,  his  tongue  pro- 
truding, his  saliva  foaming,  and  his  desperation  so  great  that 
I  fancied  he  became  suddenly  transmuted  into  a  warlike  Turk, 
with  his  sabre  in  hand,  who  was  in  the  act  of  striking  me 
dead  on  the  spot.  0  !  dying,  dying,  what  is  dying  1  Here 
my  thoughts  tapered  off  to  nothing,  like  the  expiring  vibra- 
tions of  a  smitten  bell,  and  I  remembered  no  more." 

The  effervescing  soul  had  sunk  to  rest.  The  over-strained 
harp-strings  had  snapped,  and  gave  no  further  vibration. 
The  instant  that  Charles  put  his  withe  over  the  head  of  the 
deer,  the  poor  animal  uttered  a  plaintive  bleat,  like  a  death- 
knell,  and,  driven  to  desperation,  turned,  and  brought  the 
sharp  hoof  of  his  fore-foot  down  upon  the  boy,  with  such 
force  as  to  lay  his  skull  bare,  and  knock  him  senseless  to  the 
bottom  of  the  canoe.  With  tender  solicitude,  Canaudeh  now 
betook  himself  to  the  care  of  his  unconscious  charge.  He 
folded  him  in  his  arms  with  the  tenderness  of  a  mother,  blew 
in  his  mouth,  wet  his  temples ;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  Charles 
lay  pale  and  flaccid  in  his  bosom.  The  savage  had  by  this 
time  experienced  much  kindness  from  the  Douglasses ;  and 
for  Charles,  in  particular,  he  seemed  to  have  a  special  liking. 
Failing  in  all  his  efforts,  he  paddled  his  canoe  to  the  shore ; 
and  there  he  was  met  by  a  beautiful  little  girl,  who,  from  the 
distance,  had  gazed  upon  the  scene  with  rapt  attention.  As 
soon  as  she  saw  Charles  lying  in  the  canoe,  as  if  dead,  she 
exclaimed,  with  a  sweet  voice,  "  0,  father,  father  !  do  come  ! 
do,  do,  do  ! "  at  the  same  time  running  back  into  the  thicket, 
from  which,  after  a  short  time,  she  returned,  leading  her 


68  MAPLETON;    OR, 

father  by  the  hand.  Mr.  Harcourt  —  for  such  was  the  name 
of  this  gentleman  —  was  equally  moved  with  his  little 
daughter. 

Having  used  upon  the  boy  all  his  means  of  restoration,  he 
took  him  to  his  own  house,  which  was  near,  assisted  by  the 
Indian,  and  despatched  a  messenger  for  medical  aid.  Mean- 
while, he  put  Charles  into  a  warm  bath,  and  then  transferred 
him  to  his  bed ;  and,  after  applying  pungent  stimulants  to 
his  person,  the  signs  of  animation  began  to  appear.  At  the 
instant  the  boy  opened  his  eyes,  his  father  and  mother  entered 
the  room,  and,  seeing  them,  he  said, 

"Father,  where  am  I?" 

"You  are  here,  in  the  house  of  this  good  friend,  my  son," 
said  his  father,  with  an  emotion  of  surprise  at  finding  him 
alive,  as  their  worst  fears  had  been  excited. 

"  Where  have  I  been?"  said  Charles. 

"You  can  answer  that  question  better  than  I,"  replied  his 
father.  "  You  have  not  been  with  us,  or  this  accident  would 
not  have  happened." 

"0,  I  remember,"  said  Charles.  "Where  is  Canau- 
deh?" 

The  old  savage  uttered  guttural  sounds,  which  seemed  to 
say  how  glad  he  was  to  see  him  alive. 

"  And  the  deer, —  where  is  the  deer?"  inquired  Charles. 

"  Alas,  my  son  !  "  said  Mrs.  Douglass,  "  we  have  nothing 
of  the  deer  but  this  wound  on  your  head." 

"Wound  on  rny  head?"  said  Charles,  putting  up  his 
hand,  when  he  found,  for  the  first  time,  that  his  head  was 
bandaged,  and  had  been  bleeding.  "  And  this  is  Sunday, 
too,"  he  added,  thoughtfully. 

"Yes,  this  is  Sunday,"  said  his  mother;  "and  the  chase 
is  the  last  place  where  I  should  have  looked  for  my  Charles." 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  69 

"  I  had  thought  as  much  myself,"  he  said,  evidently  hum- 
bled at  this  abuse  of  a  day  which  he  had  been  religiously 
trained  to  observe. 

"Yes,  my  son,"  said  his  mother;  "and  we  had  thought 
your  death  must  be  added  to  the  list  of  Sabbath-day  acci- 
dents. We  cannot  be  too  thankful  that  our  fears  are  not 
realized." 

Father,  mother  and  son,  were  all  much  affected. 

"  0,  how  happy  we  all  are,  Charles,  that  you  have  come 
back  from  heaven  !  Did  you  see  my  blessed  mother  there?" 
said  little  Sarah,  with  genuine  childish  simplicity. 

This  was  the  first  view  Charles  had  of  her ;  and  he  was  so 
moved  by  her  angelic  sweetness  and  beauty,  that,  in  his  con- 
fusion, he  fancied  her,  for  a  moment,  a  spirit  from  a  higher 
world. 

"  Your  mother  is  in  heaven,  my  sweet  girl?  "  he  said,  not 
comprehending  her  meaning. 

"Yes;  my  blessed  mother  went  to  heaven  more  than  a 
year  ago ;  and  I  want  some  one  to  come  from  there,  to  bring 
me  a  kiss." 

"  Dear  child,"  said  Charles,  "  I  am  not  fit  to  go  to 
heaven.  I  am  a  sinner.  How  could  I  go  to  heaven,  to 
bring  you  a  kiss?" 

"Sarah,  my  love,"  said  Mr.  Harcourt,  "do  not  trouble 
him." 

"No  trouble  at  all,  sir,"  said  Charles,  holding  her  hand 
gently  in  his. 

"Watch  now  drew  near  the  bed,  with  ears  drooping,  as  if 
partaking  in  the  general  aifliction.  Charles  patted  him  on 
the  head,  and  he  shook  his  tail  with  so  much  force  as  to  sway 
his  body  to  and  fro,  thus  expressing,  as  well  as  he  could, 
how  happy  he  was  that  matters  were  no  worse. 


70  MAPLETON;    OR, 

The  medical  gentleman  now  arrived,  and  made  such  pre- 
scriptions as  the  nature  of  the  case  seemed  to  demand.  The 
name  of  this  gentleman  was  Holliston,  a  man  trained  to  two 
professions,  the  medical  and  clerical,  the  latter  of  which  he 
had  exercised  over  one  of  the  largest  New  England  congre- 
gations, till  his  voice  failed,  when  he  resumed  again  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine.  He  had  lately  arrived  in  town,  in  company 
with  his  children,  who  had  found  it  for  their  interest  to  emi- 
grate. He  hoped  to  m$ke  himself  still  useful  among  a  peo- 
ple more  needing,  though  less  able  to  compensate,  his  ser- 
vices. His  dignified  person  and  fine  countenance  were  an 
index  of  the  noble  sentiments  which  had  actuated  him  through 
life.  He  took  his  leave,  with  an  engagement  to  meet  at 
dinner,  the  next  day,  some  of  his  former  acquaintances,  whom 
Mr.  Harcourt  was  expecting  in  town.  Indeed,  this  gentle- 
man had  long  known  the  doctor,  and  they  had  come  to  town 
in  company ;  which  accounts  for  his  being  called,  rather  than 
physicians  who  had  been  longer  established. 

Great  preparations  were  going  on  in  the  family  for  this 
dinner.  John,  the  servant,  was  collecting  from  earth,  air 
and  water,  Avhatever  might  minister  to  appetite  or  to  pleas- 
ure. Mr.  Harcourt  was  bred  a  free  liver,  and  had  trans- 
ferred to  the  new  country  habits  and  means  of  luxury 
unknown  to  most  of  its  inhabitants.  Dinner  was  the  great 
event  of  the  day,  towards  which  the  skill  and  resources  of  the 
house  flowed,  without  stint  or  measure.  He  never  left  his 
table  without  swallowing  his  bottle  of  claret,  with  such  occa- 
sional additions  of  brandy,  Scotch  whiskey,  or  other  wines, 
during  the  day  and  evening,  as  appetite  seemed  to  demand. 
Still,  Mr.  Harcourt  was  never  intoxicated,  as  that  term  is 
generally  understood.  He  abhorred  the  thing  more  than 
most  men.  He  thought  it  beastly  and  degrading.  Mrs. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        71 

Douglass,  mistrusting  the  habits  of  the  family,  took  measures 
to  keep  her  husband  away  by  staying  away  herself,  intrust- 
ing Charles  to  the  care  of  little  Sarah's  nurse  till  he  should 
be  able  to  come  home.  Mr.  Holliston  came  early  the  next 
day  to  look  after  his  patient,  in  whom  he  seemed  to  take  a 
peculiar  interest. 

"  My  lad,"  said  he,  "it  is  time  you  were  looking  out  for 
something  besides  deer  and  foxes.  Have  you  studied  Latin 
yet?" 

"A  little,"  replied  Charles. 

"And  Greek?" 

"  Yes,  Greek  too."  j 

"  And  mathematics  ?  " 

"  My  mother,  sir,  thinks  me  prepared  to  enter  college." 

"Ay,  ay;  your  mother, eh?  what  does-  she  know  about  it?" 

•'  She  is  a  classical  scholar,  sir,  arid  has  assisted  me  in  my 
studies." 

"  Quite  unusual, —  quite,  quite.  Where  was  your  mother 
brought  up?" 

"  In  New  England,  sir.  Her  father  was  many  years  the 
clergyman  of  Paucatuck  parish,  who  had  a  great  desire  for  a 
son,  to  try  his  peculiar  notions  of  education  upon ;  but,  disap- 
pointed in  this,  he  experimented  with  my  mother,  giving  her 
an  education  equal,  I  judge,  to  an  ordinary  college  course." 

"  Old  Pastor  Rogers, —  was  that  his  name?  " 

"  Yes, —  Lebbeus  Rogers." 

"In  Paucatuck  parish.  Yes,  yes;  I  knew  him  well. 
Eccentric,  original,  but  a  right-down  good  man,  and  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school.  Was  your  mother  Pastor  Rogers' 
daughter,  eh?" 

"Yes,  sir;  his  only  child." 

"Well,  my  lad,  you  must  step  into  the  place  of  your 


72  MAPLETON;  OR, 

grandfather's  hoped-for  son,  and  do  his  work  to  another  gen- 
eration. What  is  there  to  prevent  your  going  to  college  this 
autumn?" 

"I  cannot  say,  sir,  "whether  my  father  will  feel  himself' 
able  to  sustain  the  burden." 

"  Never  mind  that.  I  can  put  you  on  a  foundation.  I  'd 
rather  pay  all  the  bills  than  not  have  old  Pastor  Rogers'  son 
educated.  Diddington  College  has  a  foundation  for  such 
smart  lads  as  you,  of  which  I  am  a  trustee.  We  '11  see ; 
we  '11  see.  Diddington  is  just  the  place  for  you.  How  is 
your  head,  my  boy?" 

"  It  is  much  relieved." 

"Sleep  well?" 

"  Pretty  well.  Started  some,  and  had  frightful  dreams, 
the  first  of  the  night,  but  got  quiet  before  morning." 

"  All  that  is  quite  natural ;  quite, —  very." 

Physician  and  patient  were  now  interrupted  by  the 
entrance  of  Mr.  Harcourt,  accompanied  by  Skarnpton  and 
Marldon. 

"  Glad  to  meet  you  in  the  new  country,  at  last,"  said 
Marldon  to  his  host;  "you  have  had  a  long  siege  in  getting 
here." 

"Yes,  confounded  long,"  said  Harcourt.  "You  lawyers, 
bailiffs,  creditors,  the  devil  and  all,  had  liked  to  detain  me 
forever ;  but,  thank  my  stars,  I  escaped  at  last  with  a  whole 
skin." 

"'All's  well  that  ends  well,'"  said  Marldon.  "The 
large  deduction  wrung  out  of  your  creditors  ought  to  satisfy 
you.  Have  you  built  yet?  " 

"  No,  not  done.  The  work  is  going  on.  We  have  pitched 
into  this  cabin  the  mean  while,  for  the  want  of  a  better." 

"A  competence  is  left  you,  eh?"  said  Marldon,  with  a 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  73 

chuckle  at  his  own  skill  in  fleecing  creditors  and  enriching 
client. 

"Nothing  to  complain  of,"  said  Harcourt.  "It's  my 
treat,  I  confess.  John,  bring  on  that  old  hock,"  he  added, 
calling  to  his  man.  "  A  drop  from  my  grandfather's  cellar 
is  as  good  to  sharpen  appetite  as  to  clear  the  throat  after 
dinner." 

"  From  your  grandfather's  cellar,  and  not  in  your  assets  1 " 
added  the  lawyer,  with  another  chuckle. 

"  Yes;  better  be  hung  than  lose  one's  wine.  Here,  John, 
extract  that  cork.  That 's  right,  man.  Now  for  a  glass  of 
this  blessed  old  Rhenish,  which  is  twenty-five  years  older 
than  any  man  in  the  company,"  said  Harcourt,  holding  up 
the  bottle,  and  pouring  the  imprisoned  enemy  into  a  glass,  all 
sparkling  and  flaming  with  death.  They  drank,  and  offered 
the  cup  to  the  doctor. 

"I  am  a  teetotaller,  gentlemen,"  said  the  doctor;  "don't 
ask  me  to  drink.  I  do  not  drink,  on  principle." 

"  I  never  drink,  on  inclination"  said  Skampton  ;  "I'm 
none  of  your  new-fangled  principle  men,  who  are  wiser  than 
the  Son  of  God  himself,  who  both  made  wine  and  treated  his 
friends  with  it." 

"  What !  you  not  drink,  Mr.  Skampton,"  said  Harcourt, 
"  and  make  your  thousands  out  of  drinking?  " 

"And  loses  his  thousands,  too,  out  of  drinking,"  said 
Marldon.  "  Is  it  true,  my  friend,  that  a  drunken  crew  have 
sunk  a  ship  for  you  among  the  whales  of  Kamtschatka  ?  " 

"They  have  sunk  my  ship,  but  not  my  funds.  I  was 
insured." 

"  The  whole  amount? "  said  Marldon. 

"  More  than  I  should  have  got  in  these  times  of  light  car- 
goes and  small  pay." 
7 


74  MAPLETON;   OR3 

"Were  the  drunkards  who  went  down  insured  ?  "  inquired 
Harcourt,  laughing. 

"That  is  another  thing,"  replied  Mr.  Holliston.  "The 
insurance  offices  cannot  restore  the  poor  fellows  their  lost 
life.  They  cannot  repair  the  damage  to  widows  and  or- 
phans." 

"The  disasters  of  the  sea  are  unavoidable,"  said  Skamp- 
ton. 

"  Those  of  rum  are  greater,"  rejoined  the  doctor. 

"  I  hope  you  do  not  blame  ship-owners,  because  sailors 
will  get  drunk,"  said  Skampton. 

"  I  do  blame  them  for  furnishing  the  means,"  said  the 
doctor.  "It  is  as  sure  death  to  them  as  weapons  in  the 
hands  of  madmen.  We  have  no  right  to  put  the  cup  to  our 
neighbor's  lip.  Ship-owners  sink  their  own  property,  and 
the  sailors,  too,  by  furnishing  them  strong  drink." 

"  Not  their  own  property,  if  they  are  insured,"  said 
Marldon. 

"  Profits  must  be  charged  on  -what  is  saved,  to  cover  the 
loss,  where  there  is  no  insurance,"  said  Harcourt. 

"  No  doubt  losses  raise  the  price  of  the  article  lost,  when 
they  are  very  heavy,"  said  Skampton. 

"  The  loss  must  fall  somewhere,"  said  Mr.  Holliston. 
"  Besides,  it  is  not  a  simple  question  of  loss  and  gain.  Ship- 
owners are  morally  bound  to  watch  over  the  life  and  health 
of  the  sailors  they  employ;  and  they  cannot  do  it  where 
intoxicating  drinks  are  put  into  their  hands.  They  will 
drink,  if  we  give  them  the  means ;  and  we  are  bound,  in  con- 
science and  in  humanity,  not  to  do  it.  We  are  accessory  to 
their  death,  by  doing  it." 

' '  That 's  perfectly  preposterous ! ' '  said  Skampton.     ' '  Must 


MORE    WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  75 

ships  be  sailed  without  ropes,  because  a  crazy  sailor,  now  and 
then,  hangs  himself?" 

"  Ropes  do  not  make  sailors  crazy,  but  alcohol  does,"  said 
Mr.  Holliston.  "  Ropes  do  not  create  an  appetite  for  hang- 
ing ;  but  alcohol  creates  an  appetite  which  is  ungovernable, 
and  which,  when  indulged,  sinks  ships,  drowns  sailors,  burns 
houses,  raises  mobs,  multiplies  crime,  and  produces  more 
plagues  than  escaped  from  Pandora's  box.  How  can  you, 
then,  with  the  knowledge  of  these  facts,  do  anything  to  pro- 
voke or  gratify  such  an  appetite,  without  involving  yourself 
in  the  guilt  of  wholesale  murder  1 " 

"  This  old  doctor  is  rowing  against  wind  and  tide,"  whis- 
pered Marldon  to  his  host,  as  they  discussed  a  bottle  of  wine 
together.  "  Skampton  's  death  upon  teetotalism." 

"A  great  benefactor,  too ! "  said  Harcourt, with  a  shrug  of 
his  shoulders. 

"  He  knows  how  to  get,  as  well  as  give  ;  and  to  give,  too, 
where  it  will  bring  a  dividend  in  reputation,  if  not  in  money," 
said  Marldon. 

"  That 's  it,  that 's  it !  "  said  Harcourt ;  "  I  've  always  said 
charity  is  keen  for  dividends.  She  is  a  great  sharper,  the 
painted  old  jade  !  " 

"  Thank  God,  doctor,  my  conscience  is  not  in  your  keep- 
ing ! "  said  Mr.  Skampton,  at  the  same  time  jumping  up, 
and  beginning  to  pace  the  floor. 

Dinner  was  now  announced,  and  served  with  all  the  sump- 
tuousness  of  bankrupt  opulence.  They  sat  an  hour  over 
their  fruits  and  wines,  some  partaking  of  one,  and  others 
of  both,  till  Bacchus  reigned  supreme  with  his  votaries.  In 
the  midst  of  the  good  cheer,  Skampton  was  waited  on  by  his 
land  factor,  a  young  man  of  a  searching,  sinister  aspect,  who 
was  the  leader  of  a  singular  gang  in  town,  that  went  under  the 


76  MAPLETON;     OB, 

name  of  money-diggers.  His  name  was  Samuel  Gilfort,  and 
he  was  an  alcoholic  necromancer.  His  father  was  so  before 
him,  but  never  turned  his  peculiar  powers  to  any  worldly 
advantage,  having  always  lived  in  extreme  poverty ;  whereas 
the  son  was  a  man  ever  on  the  alert  for  the  main  chance, 
looking  out  for  something  to  turn  up  which  would  raise  him 
in  the  world.  His  vigilance  in  this  respect  had  brought  -him 
into  contact  with  the  great  land-holder,  while  his  shrewdness 
had  commended  him  to  Skampton  as  a  suitable  instrument  to 
be  used. 

"Draw  up,  Gilfort,  draw  up,"  said  Harcourt,  "and  take 
a  glass  of  this  old  Madeira.  It 's  capital ;  't  will  whet  your 
faculties  in  this  business  of  land-hunting." 

Gilfort  gladly  obeyed  the  summons,  and  swallowed  glass 
after  glass,  till  full  half  a  bottle  of  the  infernal  nectar  was 
leaping  and  dancing  among  his  veins  and  arteries.  His  eye 
dilated ;  he  was  collected  in  mind ;  his  perceptive  powers  were 
whetted  to  their  keenest  edge.  Not  a  trace  of  ordinary  intox- 
ication appeared  in  him,  but  he  had  more  the  aspect  of  a  man 
who  felt  the  spell  of  inspiration,  and  the  afflatus  of  a  seer. 
He  was  one  of  those  on  whom  alcohol  acts  as  the  pharmacia 
of  the  ancients,  or  those  drugs  used  as  charms,  love-potions, 
or  to  produce  the  sibylline  frenzy  by  which  events  were  fore- 
told, and  a  sublimated  state  of  the  faculties  was  produced. 

"Well,  Gilfort,"  said  Skampton,  "how  goes  it?  Have 
you  located  1  " 

"  Yes,  I  foresee  a  grand  turn-up  from  the  hit  I  have  made. 
The  warrants  marked  A,  B,  C,  D.  I  have  located  round  the 
Falls, —  a  water-power  to  turn  any  quantity  of  machinery, 
and  which  is  sure  to  turn  up  a  great  city  as  time  is  to  unroll 
his  scroll.  A  hundred  acre  lot,  including  the  Falls,  is  already 
taken  up,  and  has  some  small  betterments  on 't ;  but  I  have 


MOKE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  77 

bargained  for  it  at  a  moderate  advance,  on  condition  of  your 
approval.  The  rest  all  comes  at  government  price,  though 
worth  at  this  moment  a  thousand  times  its  cost.  We  shall 
thus  have,  in  a  body  around  the  Falls,  six  hundred  acres, 
including  a  water-power  which  cannot  fail  to  give  birth  to  a 
city.  But,  should  that  fail, —  which  is  impossible,  or  I  am 
no  prophet, — we  have  as  good  land  for  farming  as  can  be  got, 
besides  the  water-fall.  All  agree  it 's  a  magnificent  pur- 
chase." ^ 

"Good!  A  brave  fellow!  Keen,  real  keen,  Gilfort, — 
we  '11  make  a  speck,  I  think.  At  any  rate,  our  chance  is 
between  well  and  a  windfall." 

"  It  '11  prove  the  stepping-stone,  I  trust,  to  a  long-cherished 
hope  of  doing  somewhat  for  this  crazy  world,"  said  Gilfort, 
with  an  eye  dilating  with  hope,  and  a  mind  laboring  with 
great  ideas,  such  as  they  were,  produced  by  the  blending  of 
the  alcoholic  current  with  a  peculiar  constitutional  necromancy. 

"  Crazy !  crazy!"  said  Harcourt  to  Marldon,  in  an  under- 
tone. "  He  transfers  his  own  craziness  to  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. He  's  mad  as  a  March  hare  !  " 

"  Yes,  he  believes  the  earth  is  full  of  ingots  of  gold,  I 
learn,  buried  there  by  the  dead  generations,"  said  Marldon. 
"  He  's  a  great  digger  ;  but  he  '11  find  a  heavier  chest  in  his 
transactions  with  Skampton,  I  guess,  than  any  that  the  earth 
contains." 

"  He  takes  a  share,  then?  " 

"Yes,  a  quarter;  and  if  his  purchase  turns  out  what  it 
seems,  it  '11  bring  him  thousands.  Always  in  luck,"  added 
Marldon,  addressing  Skampton.  "Have  you  secured  the 
Gore  lot,  yet?" 

"It  is  secured,  sir,  and  the  building  is  contracted  for," 
replied  Skampton.     "  It 's  a  first-rate  stand." 
7* 


78  MAPLETON;    OR, 

"  Stand  for  what  ?  "  inquired  Charles,  turning  on  his  sofa, 
\vith  an  anxious,  excited  look. 

"A  tavern-stand,  child,"  replied  Skampton  ;  "what  else 
d'' ye  think?" 

"0,  God,  have  mercy  on  us! "  exclaimed  Charles,  invol- 
untarily. 

.  "  Do  you  feel  worse,  my  son  ?  "  said  the  doctor,  not  com- 
prehending what  had  been  said. 

"  Not  in  body,"  replied  Charles. 

" In  mind,  then?  "  inquired  the  kind  physician. 

"To  be  honest,  I  have  a  horror  of  a  groggery  in  our 
quiet  town,"  replied  the  boy. 

"And  so  have  I,"  said  the  physician.  "We  can't  have 
one, —  we  must  not  have  one." 

"  You  do  me  wrong,  my  lad,  to  speak  thus  of  my  benevo- 
lent exertions  in  behalf  of  strangers  passing  through  your 
town.  Is  a  traveller's  home  a  groggery?"  said  Skampton, 
with  aggrieved  feelings  at  the  imputation. 

"  What  are  travellers'  homes,  as  a  general  thing,  but  grog- 
geries  ?  "  said  Mr.  Holliston.  "  The  boy  did  right  to  call  it 
by  the  name  it  deserves.  Will  you  obligate  yourself  not  to 
sell  intoxicating  drinks  on  the  Gore  lot? " 

"  I  never  sell  them,"  said  Skampton. 

"  Well,  will  you  prevent  their  sale  by  the  terms  of  your 
lease?" 

"  I  shall  impose  no  restrictions.  I  shall  leave  my  tenant 
to  consult  his  own  interest.  Would  you  have  me  proscribe 
beef-steak  ?  " 

"  That 's  right !  "  said  Marldon ;  "  I  'd  be  bound  by  none 
of  these  new  measures.  If  people  make  fools  of  themselves, 
must  you?  Keeping  rum,  or  beef-steak,  compels  nobody 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       79 

to  buy.     And  those  who  wish  to  buy  will  have  it,  whether 
you  keep  it,  or  not.     That  'a  my  logic." 

"  The  more  they  buy,  the  jollier,  as  saith  an  old  ballad," 
said  Harcourt,  beginning-  to  sing, — 

"  See  !  the  rain  soaks  to  the  skin  ; 
Make  it  rain  as  well  within. 
Wine,  my  boy  !  we  '11  sing  and  laugh  ; 
All  night  revel,  rant  and  quaff,  — 
Till  the  morn,  stealing  behind  us, 
At  the  table  sleep  will  find  us." 

"Drinking  will  civilize  these  Mapleton  dolts.  From 
drunken  old  Noah's  day  to  this  time,  wine  has  been  the 
inspiration  of  generous  souls." 

Remonstrance  was  vain,  and  Mr.  Holliston  dropped  the 
subject.  Indeed,  his  being  found  in  such  society  was  owing 
to  his  acquaintance  with  these  gentlemen  when  they  were 
not  what  they  had  now  become,  and  in  a  new  country  he 
was  naturally  attracted  to  them  by  the  lack  of  society  and 
the  ties  of  recollection.  As  for  Skampton,  a  morbid  con- 
servatism, which  clings  to  whatever  is  old  and  abhors  what- 
ever is  new,  united  to  an  overweening  desire  for  money,  with 
which  to  buy  influence  and  reputation,  was  the  root  from  which 
branched  off  most  of  the  evils  of  his  character.  Poor  Charles 
had  no  more  rest.  The  wounds  of  his  mind  were  deeper  and 
more  dangerous  than  those  of  his  body.  His  imagination 
revelled  amid  scenes  of  domestic  madness  and  murder.  And 
when  the  facts  were  imparted  to  his  mother,  she  was  still 
more  agonized.  The  Gore  lot  was  the  centre  of  attraction  to 
the  town,  and  they  had  everything  to  apprehend  from  its 
being  made  the  seat  of  a  traffic  in  alcohol.  Their  place  of 
worship  joined  it ;  and  now,  to  have  it  a  Satan's  seat,  was  too 
abhorrent, —  too  alarming  to  their  domestic  fears. 


80  MAPLETON;    OR, 

The  few  days  that  Charles  staid  in  the  Harcourt  family 
had  one  charm  which  never  faded  from  his  mind,  and  that 
was  his  acquaintance  with  little  Sarah.  It  was  the  fairy 
dream  of  a  desolate  night.  To  his  ear  the  voice  of  Sarah 
was  sweeter  than  lute  or  harp,  and  her  form  seemed  too 
sylph-like  and  ethereal  for  a  land  of  rugged  realities.  He 
was  surprised,  also,  at  the  order  and  elegance  which  reigned 
around.  The  costly  carpets,  rich  drapery,  gorgeous  furni- 
ture and  well-appointed  domestics, —  relics  of  faded  splendor, 
—  contrasted  strangely  with  the  wild  surroundings  of  new- 
country  life.  Mr.  Harcourt  he  saw  not  after  the  day  of  this 
convivial  dinner ;  but  Sarah  was  always  present,  watching  him 
like  a  guardian  angel,  and  amusing  him  with  her  guitar.  Oh 
one  occasion  she  sang,  with  great  pathos,  a  little  piece  taught 
her  by  her  governess,  which  perfectly  entranced  him  : 

Gentle  mother,  what  is  here 
Now  my  aching  heart  to  cheer  ? 
Since  you  left  me,  all  is  sad,  — 
What  can  ever  make  me  glad  ? 

Let  the  blue-bird  sing  his  lay; 
Let  the  robin  greet  the  day 
With  his  notes  so  pure  and  clear  , 
Can  /  sing,  a  lone  one  here  ? 

On  the  cheek  of  me,  your  child, 
Singing  now  my  strain  so  wild, 
May  I  feel  thy  gentle  kiss, 
Foretaste  of  serener  bliss  ! 

One  sweet  word  from  thee  above, 
From  the  land  of  perfect  love, 
Sweeter  far  to  me  would  be 
Than  earth's  softest  melody. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  81 

Now  I  shed  a  burning  tear, 
That  no  voice  from  thee  I  hear  ; 
Oft  I  call,  and  call  again, 
But  the  stillness  gives  me  pain. 

Why  not  speak,  my  mother  mild  ? 
Lov'st  thou  not  thine  orphan  child  ? 
Have  my  woes  no  power  to  touch 
Thee,  who  loved  me  once  so  much  ? 

"  Sarah,  you  sing  like  an  angel,"  said  Charles,  in  a  trans- 
port. 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  the  angels  sing?  "  she  inquired,  with 
great  simplicity. 

"  No,  Sarah ;  but  I  'm  sure  their  music  cannot  be  sweeter 
than  yours." 

{i  What !  did  you  hear  no  music  in  heaven  ?  "  she  inquired, 
still  possessed  of  the  idea  that,  as  he  seemed  like  her  dead 
mother,  he  must  have  been  in  heaven.  Here  the  governess 
interposed,  and  before  the  conversation  could  be  resumed 
Charles  was  removed  to  his  father's  house. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   ENEMY   ENTERS  AT  LAST. 

"  Every  inordinate  cup  is  unblessed,  and  the  ingredient  is  a  —  devil." 

SHAKSPEAHE. 
"  And  when,  alas  !  our  brains  are  gone, 

What  nobler  substitute  than  wine  ?"  —  BYRON. 

As  soon  as  Charles  was  able,  Mr.  Holliston  took  him  home, 
and  had  an  interview  with  his  parents  on  the  subject  of  his 


82  MAPLETON ;     OB, 

entering  college.  He  engaged  his  tuition  out  of  the  funds  of 
which  he  was  a  trustee,  and  more,  if  necessary ;  but  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Douglass  were  unwilling  that  he  should  depend 
upon  charity.  Still,  as  it  would  be  a  matter  of  convenience 
to  have  an  advance  of  his  tuition  fees  till  they  should  find 
it  convenient  to  refund  the  amount,  they  accepted  it.  They 
found  occasion  for  all  their  funds  in  subduing  a  new  farm, 
and  hoped  that  when  that  crisis  was  passed,  they  would 
be  easier  in  their  circumstances.  The  ensuing  October  was 
fixed  upon  for  Charles  to  leave,  the  interval  being  devoted 
to  preparation.  His  own  thoughts  now  took  a  more  serious 
turn,  and  he  began  to  have  earnest  views  of  life.  He  felt 
for  himself,  a  creature  of  impulse  as  he  was,  and  liable  above 
most  to  temptation ;  he  felt  for  his  mother ;  and  they  both 
felt  for  his  father,  as  none  but  the  friends  of  an  unfortunate 
victim  of  intemperance  know  how  to  feel. 

Days  and  weeks  together,  befpre  Charles  was  old  enough  to 
realize  their  condition,  Mrs.  Douglass  had  spent  in  constant 
apprehension  for  her  own  life  and  that  of  her  children.  The 
effect  of  alcohol  upon  her  husband  was  not  stupor  and  imbe- 
cility, but  madness  of  the  most  terrific  kind,  accompanied  by  un- 
wonted muscular  power.  It  was  only  after  he  was  exhausted  by 
over-exertion  that  he  became  weak  and  unconscious.  Hence, 
the  question  of  his  returning  to  his  cups  was  one  of  life  or 
death  to  the  whole  household.  Even  his  years  of  abstinence 
were  years  of  constant  apprehension.  If  he  was  delayed 
beyond  the  expected  time,  or  was  out  late  at  night,  Mrs. 
Douglass,  and  Charles,  when  he  was  old  enough  to  realize 
the  danger,  would  sit  watching  and  sleepless,  to  secure  them- 
selves and  the  other  children  against  a  murderous  assault,  in 
case  of  his  returning  intoxicated.  The  torments  of  such  a 
family  God  only  knows.  0,  could  the  dealer  in  intoxicating 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE  LAW.  83 

drinks  realize  what  they  suffer,  his  gains  would  burn  on  his 
conscience  like  the  fire  of  the  pit !  Their  security  for  the 
few  previous  years  was  owing  to  Mr.  Douglass'  remove  from 
the  poison.  He  was  not  a  man  to  go  far  out  of  his  way  to  get 
it,  especially  after  his  attack  of  delirium  tremens ;  but  when 
it  fell  in  his  way  he  invariably  lost  the  command  of  himself. 

The  fact  that  a  groggery  was  now  building  in  town,  and  soon 
to  be  opened,  filled  them  with  alarm.  Charles  remonstrated 
against  leaving  home  at  a  time  of  such  peril ;  but  his  mother 
insisted  that  it  was  the  only  time  to  complete  his  education, 
and  that  the  family  would  be  quite  as  safe  without  as  with  him. 
Their  farm-laborers  would  have  to*  be  called  in  on  an  emer- 
gency, as  neither  Charles  nor  any  of  the  family  could  control 
the  paroxysms  of  violence  to  which  Mr.  Douglass  was  subject 
when  he  was  intoxicated.  It  would  simply  cost  them  the 
sacrifice  of  Charles'  society,  to  which  they  must,  in  any  event, 
sooner  or  later  submit.  These  considerations  produced  on  all 
sides  a  general  acquiescence  in  the  immediate  separation. 
Still,  Charles'  sensibility  on  the  occasion  was  intense.  His 
was  a  nature  to  feel  keenly  what  it  felt  at  all.  But  it  proved 
a  mental  disturbance,  like  the  evening  shades  distilling1  dew, 
to  overspread  his  character  with  a  genial  influence.  It  led 
him  to  prayer,  in  his  own  behalf  and  that  of  his  family.  It 
made  him  watchful  of  himself,  tender  to  his  parents,  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  altogether  earnest  to  fulfil  the  hopes  which 
centred  in  him. 

He  was  much  in  the  society  of  Mr.  Littlefield,  and  received 
from  that  good  man  instruction  which  he  deemed  of  the  utmost 
value  to  his  subsequent  career.  "I  began  now  to  think  of 
God  in  good  earnest,"  he  says,  in  a  paper  now  before  us  ;  "I 
never  conceived  Him  so  near  before.  My  thoughts  of  Him 
increased  with  the  intensity  of  my  emotions,  ending  in  self- 


84  MAPLETON;   OR, 

condemnation  at  the  contrast  of  my  character  to  His.  I  could 
find  no  peace  till  I  had  a  sense  of  pardoning  mercy  and  aton- 
ing love.  I  owed  much  to  that  good  man,  Mr.  Littlefield. 
He  taught  me  the  freeness  and  fulness  of  divine  mercy,  in  a 
way  to  make  me  take  hold  on  them.  He  showed  me  how 
unspeakabjy  willing  God  is  to  pardon  sinners  on  a  simple  act 
of  faith  in  Christ ;  how  unnecessary  it  is  to  torture  one's  self 
with  a  sense  of  guilt,  as  if  that  would  make  amends  or  give 
to  God  a  ransom ;  and,  by  the  clearness  of  the  views  which 
he  presented  of  the  finished  redemption  which  already  exists 
for  us  in  Christ,  I  was  filled  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believ- 
ing. Argument  upon  argument,  in  confirmation  of  God's 
love  to  me,  now  flowed  in  upon  my  mind,  like  a  sweet  stream 
of  heavenly  light,  from  every  page  of  divine  revelation,  from 
all  the  objects  of  nature,  from  the  whole  course  of  Providence, 
filling  me  with  the  sweetness  of  a  delightful  surprise.  I  wept 
for  joy.  I  now  had  repose  of  mind  in  reference  to  father, 
mother,  brothers,  sisters,  and  all  my  interests ;  assured  that, 
in  the  final  consummation  of  things,  He  would  bestow  upon 
us  all  a  portion  with  which  we  should  see  infinite  reasons  to 
be  satisfied.  I  saw,  I  felt,  that  God's  policy  is  to  rear  the 
best  characters  by  the  severest  trials,  and  to  punish  the  worst 
by  the  very  greatness  of  their  prosperity  :  '  The  prosperity  of 
fools  destroys  them.' '; 

October  at  length  came,  and  Charles  launched  his  bark 
upon  the  open  sea  of  life.  Tears  were  shed  on  all  sides,  but 
they  were  tears  radiant  with  hope.  The  mother  committed  her 
son  to  the  voyage  of  life  with  vows  and  prayers  which  were 
the  guarantee  of  his  safety.  The  father  poured  forth  his 
stricken  heart  into  the  bosom  of  his  son,  and  gave  him  a 
blessing,  with  the  gloomy  foreboding  that  it  might  never 
return  upon  his  own  head.  Alas!  the  feelings  of  such  a 


MOKE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  85 

father,  who  can  imagine?  The  children  felt  the  gloom  of 
this  first  breach  in  their  circle,  and  mingled  their  desires 
with  those  of  father  and  mother,  that  dear  Charles  might  be 
prosperous  and  happy.  Even  Watch  seemed  to  whine  with  a 
melancholy  sympathy  on  the  occasion,  and  retired  to  his 
kennel  in  sullen  despondency.  The  laborers  on  the  farm  felt 
that  the  animating  soul  of  their  circle  was  gone.  And",  as 
Charles  himself  whirred  through  the  yielding  air,  amid  the 
clatter  and  rough  breathing  of  the  flying  locomotive,  sur- 
rounded by  living  masses  with  whom  he  had  no  sympathy, 
he  found  his  only  consolation  in  looking  up,  and  committing 
his  ways  to  that  beneficent  Power  who  has  an  eye  to  pity 
and  a  hand  to  save. 

Three  months  after  Charles  left  were  the  Christmas  holi- 
days, when  the  Mapleton  groggery  was  dedicated  to  Bacchus ; 
when  all  the  town,  not  too  young,  nor  too  old,  nor  too  pious, 
nor  too  stringent  in  their  temperance  views,  participated  in 
the  maddening  ceremony,  and  the  drinking  became  deep  and 
universal.  Old  as  he  was,  .lollops  was  present,  with  his  two 
sons,  all  three  of  whom  were  early  laid  away  dead  drunk ;  and 
the  number  disposed  of  in  like  manner  went  on  increasing  till 
the  break  of  day.  The  pride  of  character  and  respect  for  the 
presence  of  ladies  which,  in  more  refined  communities,  hold 
gentlemen  under  restraint,  had  little  influence  among  the  rude 
and  uncouth  Mapletonians.  The  young  men  became  intensely 
heated  and  furiously  pugnacious  from  strong  drink,  insomuch 
that  at  twelve  of  the  night  a  rivalship  for  position  among  the 
ladies  involved  them  in  a  regular  set-to,  from  which  they 
barely  escaped  with  life.  A  more  horrible  spectacle  of  dis- 
figured features  and  bruised  limbs,  covered  with  gory  clots 
of  blood,  can  hardly  be  conceived. 

Thomas  Bludgeon,  the  town  bully,  took  the  lead  in  this 


86  MAPLETON;   OB, 

row.  He  was  a  short  man,  with  iron  sinews,  a  compact 
frame,  and  a  fearless  spirit,  whose  strength  exceeded  that  of 
all  his  compeers, —  to  whom  blows  and  bruises  were  mere 
matters  of  sport,  and  whose  granite  fist  could  lay  the  strongest 
man  low  at  a  single  stroke.  Thomas  swept  the  field  of  all 
opponents,  and  returned  to  the  ladies  covered  with  glory. 
They  too,  excited  with  wine  and  toddy,  clapped  him  tumultu- 
ously  ;  and  the  dance  was  renewed  with  furor,  and  continued 
till  the  gray  dawn  dimmed  their  lamps  and  closed  their  orgies. 
The  next  day  the  publican  found  two  hundred  dollars'  worth 
of  his  wares  broken  and  strewn  in  fragments  about  his  house. 
He  brought  in. a  bill  for  the  same  against  the  managers,  who 
refused  payment,  under  plea  of  not  being  the  parties  to 
occasion  the  damage.  A  law-suit  followed,  which  was  pro- 
tracted through  many  months  at  an  enormous  expense,  draw- 
ing all  the  interests  of  the  town  in  its  wake,  and  producing 
incurable  feuds  between  those  who  had  before  lived  in 
Harmony.  This  was  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows.  The  ties 
of  virtue  were  snapped  where  they  were  deemed  soundest,  and 
men  turned  out  drunkards  who  were  least  of  all  suspected. 
The  groggery  swarmed  with  sots.  Such  a  winter  Mapleton 
had  never  seen.  The  Sunday-school  was  abandoned  of  all 
except  a  few  families, 

"  Who  faithful  proved  among  the  faithless." 

Mrs.  Douglass  and  Mrs.  Durham  persisted  still  in  their 
work,  though  the  tide  of  influence  was  all  against  them.  They 
lived  in  constant  jeopardy  of  their  husbands.  Their  nights 
were  sleepless,  and  their  days  anxious  and  gloomy.  They 
had  the  address  as  yet,  however,  to  keep  them  out  of  the  way 
of  temptation.  Their  husbands  seemed  themselves  conscious 
of  the  danger,  though  not  a  word  was  breathed  on  the  sub- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        87 

ject.  It  was  too  delicate  a  subject  for  their  conjugal  com- 
munings.  The  good  Mr.  Littlefield,  encouraged  by  Mr. 
Holliston,  continued  to  lift  up  his  warning  voice  to  the  few 
that  came  to  hear ;  but  it  made  no  present  impression  on  the 
morals  of  the  town.  Bacchus  was  the  sole  divinity  of  the 
masses  ;  riot,  obscenity  and  drunkenness,  were  his  litany  and 
his  rubric. 

An  event  occurred  early  in  May  which  made  a  strong 
impression.  Old  Mr.  Jollops  had  been  into  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Gore  Inn  on  a  matter  of  business,  where  he  lingered 
through  the  day  in  a  state  of  partial  intoxication.  About 
ten  at  night  he  started  for  home,  a  distance  of  four  miles,  but 
did  not  reach  his  destination.  His  sons  went  early  next 
morning  in  search  of  him,  and  found  him  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  his  own  house,  lying  on  the  ground,  with  his  neck 
broken,  by  a  fall  from  his  wagon,  in  a  state  of  intoxication. 
This  gave  a  momentary  check  to  the  general  dissipation, 
especially  as  Mr.  Littlefield  had  the  opportunity  at  his  funeral 
of  addressing  the  assembled  town  an  earnest  and  affectionate 
remonstrance  against  the  prevailing  vice. . 

But  the  impression  soon  wore  off.  The  summer  was  even 
more  riotous  than  the  winter,  by  reason  of  its  greater  facility 
for  out-door  dissipation.  All  the  interests  of  the  town  were 
going  to  decay.  A  large  part  of  the  harvest  of  that  summer 
was  left  to  return  ungathered  to  the  ground,  because  the 
people  were  too  intemperate  and  indolent  to  attend  to  it. 
And,  whereas  there  ought  to  have  been  an  advance  of  one 
or  two  tenths  in  the  number  of  acres  sowed  that  autumn,  to 
keep  pace  with  the  increasing  population,  there  was,  on  the 
contrary,  a  falling  off  of  more  than  one  third.  Farms  were 
actually  going  to  decay  in  a  young  town  where  the  soil  was 
in  the  freshness  of  its  strength,  and  repaid  a  hundred-fold. 


88  MAPLETON;   OR, 

The  Sabbaths  were  spent  in  the  groggery,  in  strells  along 
the  lake-shore,  fishing,  hunting,  wrestling,  fighting,  pitching 
quoits,  and  in  other  amusements  still  more  debasing  to 
society.  The  teachers  of  common  schools,  finding  few  scholars 
and  little  pay,  were  compelled  to  leave  their  occupation, 
while  the  children  ran  wild  in  the  streets  and  woods.  The 
poor-rate  of  the  town,  which  had  hitherto  been  merely 
nominal,  now  ran  up  to  the  highest  mark  for  towns  of  its 
size,  and  families  had  to  be  provided  for  which  had  enjoyed 
comfort  and  thrift. 

An  event  occurred,  on  one  of  these  riotous  Sabbaths,  in 
which  the  devil  outwitted  himself,  and,  by  urging  an  emissary 
too  far,  converted  him  into  a  powerful  assailant  of  his  own 
cause.  This  was  Thomas  Bludgeon.  The  riotous  company 
had  amused  themselves  that  morning  by  taking  a  deer  which 
the  hounds  had  driven  into  the  lake ;  after  which  they  had 
strolled  along  the  shore  till  they  reached  a  grove  which 
crowned  a  high  bank,  its  lofty  tops  rising  more  than  a  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  level  of  the  water.  Here  fathers  and 
sons,  mothers  and  daughters,  brothers  and  sisters,  friends  and 
enemies,  were  congregated  under  the  shade  of  the  thick  trees, 
with  a  fresh  supply  from  the  groggery  passing  round  in  a 
jug,  to  whet  up  their  faculties,  and  prepare  them  for  deeds  of 
folly  and  madness.  Under  the  seductive  excitement,  Thomas 
crept  along  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree  which  jutted  over  the 
abyss,  till  he  reached  the  top,  where,  flapping  his  arms  as  a 
cock  his  wings,  he  crowed  cheerily  to  the  company  below. 
This  called  the  attention  of  his  mother  to  his  fearful  position, 
when,  frantic  with  fear  and  rage,  and  not  a  little  excited  by 
draughts  from  the  jug,  she  commanded  him,  in  furious 
accents,  to  come  down ;  but  the  saucy  fellow  only  derided 
her  authority. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        89 

"I  tell  you  there,  Tom,  come  down  from  that  tree,  or 
you  '11  be  killed! "  again  repeated  Mrs.  Bludgeon,  in  a  louder 
and  more  imperious  tone. 

"An't  I  old  enough  to  do  as  I  please,  for  all  you, 
mother?"  hallooed  Thomas,  in  an  insulting  manner. 

"Tom,  come  down,  or  I  '11  beat  your  brains  out!  "  said 
Mrs.  Bludgeon,  in  a  still  more  violent  tone,  and  with  a  move- 
ment of  her  athletic  person,  as  if  she  felt  herself  competent 
to  deal  with  her  son  as  she  had  done  in  his  boyhood. 

"You  '11  find  that  a  hard  task,  mother,  I  guess,"  replied 
Thomas,  still  climbing  higher.  The  poor  woman  now 
screamed  with  rage  and  vexation,  feeling  the  intense  bitter- 
ness of  those  who  fail  to  govern  their  families  in  childhood, 
or  command  their  respect  in  riper  years.  Some  of  the  more  - 
sober  present  besought  Thomas  to  consider  his  mother's  feel- 
ings, and  come  down  from  his  perilous  situation.  But  it  was 
now  too  late  to  withstand  his  excited  ambition,  which  could 
scarcely  have  been  greater  had  he  been  committed  to  a  deed 
that  should  spread  his  fame  as  far  as  morning  diffuses  its 
light.  Not  satisfied  with  adhering  to  the  trunk  of  the  tree, 
he  now  crept  along  on  one  of  its  branches,  hanging  in  mid- 
air, full  a  hundred  feet  above  the  yawning  deep.  This  move- 
ment rendered  his  mother  frantic,  and  a  scene  ensued  of  a 
comico-tragical  kind, —  to  make  one  laugh  behind  his  tears. 
Cursing  and  condolence  were  alternately  blended  in  the  same 
breath,  as  the  disobedience  or  death  of  her  son  alternately 
preponderated  in  her  view. 

"You  devil,  —  you-  torment,  —  you  fool-hardy  villain, 
Tom,"  said  she,  "  die,  and  done  with  it! "  Then  a  protracted 
whine  ensued,  ending  in  the  pathetic  exclamation,  "0,  Tommy, 
my  dear  Tommy !  how  can  I  see  you  die  so  ?  0,  Tommy ! 
my  son,  my  son ! "  In  a  twinkling  her  anger  would  get  the 
8* 


90  MAPLETON;  OR, 

better  of  her  tenderness,  and  she  would  rage  more  furiously 
than  ever.  "  Come  down  there,  Tom,  or  I  '11  beat  you  as 
long  as  I  can  see  !  *  *  *  0,  Tommy,  my  love,  my 
darling!  dead— dead  — dead  !  0  —  0— 0  —  0  — 0!"  when 
she  sunk  down,  alike  insensible  to  anger,  at  the  folly  of  her 
child,  and  to  lamentation  over  his  lifeless  form. 

In  regaining  the  trunk  of  the  tree,  Thomas  came  to  a 
sense  of  his  awful  situation,  and  was  relaxed  with  fear.  It 
was  soon  seen  that  he  must  fall,  and  a  few  men  ran  round 
with  a  boat  in  all  haste,  to  do  what  they  could  to  save  him,  in 
case  he  emerged  alive  from  the  water.  Fortunately,  after 
hanging  to  the  limb  as  long  as  he  could,  he  dropped  feet 
foremost ;  so  that  when  he  emerged  he  felt  no  other  injury 
than  a  sense  of  suffocation.  This  fall  left  an  impression  on 
the  mind  of  Thomas  Bludgeon  of  the  evils  of  intemperance, 
and  of  the  pernicious  traffic  in  ardent  spirits,  which  made 
him  ever  after  a  perfect  thunderbolt  in  the  cause  of  reform. 
He  mounted  the  stump,  first  in  every  neighborhood  of  his 
own  town,  and  then  all  abroad,  attracting  around  him  count- 
less multitudes,  whom  he  kept  in  peals  of  laughter  by  his 
wit,  or  drenched  in  tears  by  his  pathos,  or  burning  with 
indignation,  even  to  mob  violence,  by  his  terrible  assaults  upon 
classes  and  characters. 

" How  dare  you  speak  so?"  called  out  a  friend  of  temper- 
ance, under  one  of  his  scalding  harangues. 

He  paused,  and  glanced  his  burning  eye  over  the  vast  audi- 
tory, exclaiming,  "  Speak  so?  speak  so? — how  dare  I  speak  so? 
What  dare  I  not  do  against  a  monster  which  is  devouring  us 
by  scores  and  by  thousands  ?  If  I  were  to  uncap  the  pit,  I 
could  not  find  in  it  a  more  detestable  fiend  than  this  factor  in 
rum.  No,  no,"  he  added,  with  tears  streaming  down  his  face, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  91 

"our  sons  and  daughters,  and  fathers  and  mothers,  and  magis- 
trates and  people,  all,  all  alike  suffer  from  the  fell  destroyer ! " 
Upon  this  he  stated  an  array  of  facts,  familiar  to  his 
audience,  so  dreadful  and  astounding  that  they  no  longer 
•wondered  that  he  should  dare  to  speak  as  he  did. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ALCOHOL  AND  RELIGION. 

"  After  three  glasses  of  wine,  I  am  no  longer  master  of  ^y  actions. 
Without  being  at  the  moment  conscious  of  the  change,  I  begin  to  see,  and 
feel,  and  hear,  and  reason  differently.  The  minor  transitions  between  good 
and  evil  are  forgotten ;  the  lava  boils  in  my  bosom.  Three  more,  and  I  am 
a  madman." — Harper's  Magazine. 

THE  Mapleton  groggery  was,  like  honey  to  hees  and  flies, 
the  point  of  attraction  to  all  kinds  of  contradictory  characters. 
Among  others,  the  Gilfort  family,  to  which  Samuel,  Skamp- 
ton's  factor,  belonged,  came  to  town,  attracted  hy  their  son's 
prospects,  and  by  the  flattering  account  which  he  gave  of  it  as 
a  field  for  money-digging.  They  had  spent  their  lives  in  border 
settlements,  gradually  receding  as  population  advanced ;  and, 
so  far  back  that  "the  memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the 
contrary,"  they  had  been  affected  by  this  most  singular  mania 
to-  be  always  digging  for  buried  coin,  or  buried  something, 
which  the  previous  races  of  men  were  supposed  to  have 
deposited  in  caves  now  overgrown  by  wilderness  trees. 
Though  they  got  nothing  but  poverty  and  disappointment  for 
their  labor,  yet  this  did  not  at  all  abate  their  superstitious 


92  MAPLETON;  OR, 

zeal,  inasmuch  as  they  were  never  long  enough  free  from  the 
disguising  and  bewitching  influence  of  alcohol  to  admit  of 
their  returning  to  the  practical  good  sense  of  obtaining  an 
honest  livelihood.  It  has  been  said  by  a  late  writer  that 
"  it  has  ever  been  the  mania  of  mankind  to  ascribe  the  actions 
of  their  fellow-creatures  to  all  motives  but  the  true ;  but  if 
they  saw  clearly,  and  spoke  honestly,  they  would  admit  that 
more  heroes  had  been  made  by  the  bottle  than  the  sword." 
And  the  wildest  freaks  of  fanaticism  often  owe  their  inspira- 
tion to  the  same  frantic  divinity. 

The  effect  of  drinking  on  some  constitutions  is  to  make 
them  superstitious.  They  never  manifest  religious  sensibility, 
except  when  they  are  intoxicated.  Then  they  are  tender, 
sympathetic,  contrite,  devout,  and  free  to  introduce  high 
discourse  of  religion  and  duty.  The  elements  of  religion  are 
in  our  nature,  and  whatever  excites  us  at  all  is  quite  as  apt 
to  show  its  effects  here  as  at  any  other  point.  The  volup- 
tuous habits  of  Mahomet  made  him  a  visionary,  and  gave 
birth  to  his  sensual  heaven.  Joe  Smith  was  indebted  to  the 
bottle  for  his  early  inspirations.  Byron's  highest  flights  were 
with  an  alcoholic  Pegasus.  No  marvel,  then,  that  an  offshoot 
of  such  a  family  as  that  of  the  Gilforts  should  give  birth  to 
a  new  form  of  spiritual  disease,  adapted  to  propagate  itself 
among  constitutions  fitted  to  take  the  infection.  Samuel 
Gilfort  had  drawn  in  alcohol  with  his  mother's  milk.  His 
first  ideas  were  shaped  by  money-digging,  and  his  earliest 
efforts  were  with  the  mineral  rod,  which,  in  his  hands,  was 
supposed  to  work  towards  the  buried  ingots  with  great  activity 
and  precision.  He  lived  from  childhood  in  a  region  of  mys- 
terious fancies.  His  dreams  seemed  to  him  an  index  of 
destiny.  If  he  lifted  a  stone,  a  spirit  started  from  under  it. 
If  he  held  a  golden  leaf  from  the  autumnal  forest,  it  was 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        93 

written  with  enigmatical  characters.  If  he  heard  the  rum- 
bling of  distant  thunder,  or  saw  the  fiery  edge  of  lightning 
cleave  the  sky, —  if  the  murmur  of  dashing  surf,  or  the  hum 
of  distant  insects,  jostled  his  nerves, —  they  were  angels  or 
devils  imparting  to  him  the  secrets  of  a  higher  world.  His 
education  and  his  habits,  and,  most  of  all,  his  constant  pota- 
tions, which  had  the  singular  effect  of  inflaming  his  absurd 
spiritualism,  had  wrought  in  him  so  that  he  now  came  to  feel 
that  he  was  not  born  for  mere  money-digging, —  from  which  he 
was  shrewd  enough  to  perceive  his  family  had  gained  nothing, 
—  but  to  act  in  the  higher  character  of  seer,  prophet,  or  in 
some  other  capacity  not  yet  distinctly  defined  to  his  view. 
He  was  full  of  the  mesmerism  of  alcohol  and  of  divination, 
and  he  was  a  "  medium  "  in  fact,  though  not  yet  in  form. 

Gilfort  was  a  genius  in  his  way,  and  had  a  wonderful  power 
of  fascinating  those  who  fell  under  his  influence  He  never 
lost  the  command  of  himself  through  strong  drink,  but  his 
potations  seemed  to  supply  a  necessary  stimulus  to  the 
shrewdest,  highest  exertion  of  his  faculties.  He  could  stand 
more  than  any  living  man.  Alcohol  was  to  him,  as  we  before 
hinted,  the  pharmacia  of  the  ancients ;  a  word  which  hangs, 
in  medio,  between  a  physical  and  a  spiritual  meaning, —  a 
drug  for  the  body  and  an  inspiration  for  the  mind.  Opium 
and  alcohol  have  always  been  celebrated  for  this  double 
influence.  Human  nature  is  a  mysterious  thing,  especially 
in  its  spiritual  elements.  It  has  nothing  so  purely  divine  as 
not  to  blend  in  with  the  carnal  and  worldly ;  and  sometimes 
even  with  craft,  cunning,  fraud  and  superstition,  insomuch 
as  to  make  it  difficult  to  tell  where  the  one  begins  or  the  other 
ends.  Samuel  Gilfort  was  never  so  far  merged  in  his  intense 
fanaticism  as  to  lose  sight  of  the  chances  of  bettering  his 
condition  in  the  world.  In  him  the  burning  enthusiasm  of 


94  MAPLETON;  OR, 

an  anchorite,  or  the  narcotic  and  alcoholic  inspiration  of  a 
De  Quincey,  a  Burns,  and  a  Coleridge,  was  Yankeeized, 
or  conjoined  to  the  shrewd  tricks  of  a  Connecticut  pedler,  in 
securing  as  much  worldly  good  as  possible  from  the  exercise 
of  his  extraordinary  powers. 

Gilfort  had  around  him  a  gang  of  worthless  fellows,  whom  he 
had  deluded  into  his  own  wild  ideas  about  buried  coin,  the 
mineral-rod,  and  his  own  exalted  functions,  known  in  town 
under  the  general  appellation  of  money-diggers.  They 
all  lived  in  habitual  expectation  that,  through  their  leader, 
something  would  turn  up  to  their  advantage.  This  hope  was 
further  strengthened  by  the  shrewdness  of  his  measures, 
especially  in  his  partnership  with  Skampton  in  the  purchase 
of  the  Falls  tract,  which  had  already  brought  him  some 
thousands,  and  promised  a  still  richer  harvest.  Still,  money 
alone  did  not  satisfy  the  demands  of  Gilfort's  ambition.  He 
desired  position,  influence,  and  a  great  leadership.  He  would 
make  himself  captain  of  something  and  of  somebody,  to 
enjoy  the  sweets  of  power  and  the  luxury  of  dominion. 

In  this  state  of  mind  he  and  his  gang  set  off  to  renew  the 
search  for  money,  or  something  —  they  hardly  knew  what  — 
which  they  supposed  was  hid  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Their 
potations,  before  starting  and  by  the  way,  were  deep,  which 
the  more  inflamed  superstition,  and  frenzied  the  imagination. 
The  place  of  digging  was  Forest  Point,  a  long,  narrow  arm 
of  the  continent,  jutting  into  the  lake,  covered  with  thick 
trees.  The  hour  was  midnight, —  solemn,  gloomy,  profound. 
Gilfort  and  his  company  had  dug  there  before,  but  found,  to 
their  surprise,  that  the  earth  had  been  replaced ;  which  led  him 
to  exclaim,  "  Eh  !  the  devils  have  been  meddling;  but  we  '11 
see  who  beats,  this  time !  "  This  he  said  from  the  common 


MORE  WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE  LAW.  95 

notion  among  money-diggers  that  to  get  buried  coin  involves 
a  battle  with  its  guardian  spirits. 

"  Where  shall  we  place  the  lamp?"  inquired  one  of  the 
company,  all  of  whom  seemed  awe-struck  and  spell-bound  as 
soon  as  they  reached  the  spot. 

"We'll  see,"  said  Gilfort,  taking  the  mineral-rod  and 
holding  it  in  a  semi-circular  form,  tightly  pressed  by  one 
hand  near  one  end,  and  the  other  near  the  other  end.  Soon 
the  rod  commenced  twirling  and  crawling  like  a  serpent, —  by 
the  art  of  the  holder  more  than  his  magic, —  till  at  length  it 
became  quiet,  with  one  end  pointing  obliquely  to  a  mound  of 
earth,  like  a  grave,  in  the  centre  of  the  replaced  dirt. 
"There,  hang  your  lamp  directly  over  that  mound,"  added 
Gilfort.  Accordingly  a  blue  taper  was  suspended  to  an  over- 
hanging branch  to  afford  light  in  digging,  the  odor  from  which 
was  strongly  tinctured  with  brimstone,  as  if  they  had  to  do 
with  beings  accustomed  to  that  element.  Now  not  a  word 
was  spoken,  and  no  sound  was  heard  except  that  of  the  shovel 
and  the  falling  dirt,  united  to  the  surf,  the  cries  of  the 
screech-owl,  the  howling  of  distant  wolves,  and  some  such 
dismal  notes  of  the  midnight  chorus  in  a  boundless  wilder- 
ness. 

At  length  the  diggers  struck  upon  something  which 
rumbled  like  a  coffin,  or  some  such  deposit,  in  the  bosom  of 
the  earth.  A  shudder  went  through  the  company, —  the  more 
so  from  a  superstition  among  them  that,  when  a  chest  of 
money  is  touched,  all  the  devils  set  to  guard  it  exert  their 
powerful  incantations  to  wrest  it  from  those  who  would  secure 
it,  and,  if  they  do  not  succeed  in  breaking  the  spell  in  some 
way,  the  treasure  will  escape  their  hands,  and  will  be  sunk 
still  deeper  in  the  earth.  The  diggers  felt,  therefore,  that 
the  hole  swarmed  with  watchful  fiends ;  cold  horror  curdled 


96  MAPLETON;  OR, 

their  blood,  and  Gilfort  seemed  in  an  -agony,  as  if  grappling 
with  some  power  which  was  more  than  a  match  for  him. 
Seizing  a  canteen  of  whiskey,  he  quaffed  a  luscious  draught, 
and  handed  it  round  to  his  men.  Still,  his  spirit  was  greatly 
perturbed,  the  perspiration  started  from  every  pore,  his 
countenance  was  hideously  distorted,  and  he  seemed  on  the 
point  of  going  into  convulsions.  Whether  it  might  not  have 
been  a  premonitory  symptom  of  delirium  tremens  is  a  question. 
Certain  it  is,  that  disease  when  produced  by  alcohol,  and  only 
then,  is  allied,  more  than  all  other  diseases,  to  Satanic  agency. 
The  whiskey  enabled  him  to  breathe  easier,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"Victory,  victory!  you  're  floored,  you  're  floored!  Offj 
devils,  off!  I  conjure  you,  by  all  the  powers,  be  off!  Strike, 
boys,  strike! — dig,  dig,  dig,  with  all  your  might!" 

The  dirt  now  flew  up  more  rapidly  than  ever.  The  men,  too, 
felt  the  quickening  of  the  canteen  spirit.  Each  stroke  of 
the  shovel  gave  indubitable  evidence  of  something  under 
their  feet  more  sonorous  than  earth  and  stones.  It  sounded, 
it  rumbled, — now  from  the  stroke  of  the  spade,  now  from 
falling  stones,  and  now  from  the  feet  of  the  men, —  till,  at 
length,  a  deep,  hollow  groan  came  up  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  as  from  an  imprisoned  spirit  in  his  adamantin^dungeon. 
The  men  were  mad  with  fright,  and  Gilfort  could  restrain 
them  no  longer.  They  all  fled,  and  he  after  them :  but  a 
happy  thought  occurred  to  him,  and  he  returned,  and,  by  dint 
of  persuasion,  succeeded  in  bringing  two  or  three  of  his  most 
courageous  followers  with  him.  They  stood  listening  in 
solemn  stillness,  with  their  heads  bowed  over  the  pit,  when 
they  distinctly  heard  a  voice  muttering,  under  ground,  "Be 
off,  by  St.  Pathrick  !  be  off,  or  I  '11  be  the  death  of  you,  I 
will!  Murther  —  murther  —  murther!"  was  next  shrieked 
out  from  stentorian  lungs,  but  stifled  and  suppressed  by  a 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE   MAINE  LAW.  97 

sense  of  suffocation.  Then  all  was  hushed,  and  they  listened. 
The  stillness  was  horrible.  The  hearts  of  the  men  smote 
their  sides  with  four  times  the  usual  strength.  We  have  it 
from  one  who  confessed  the  facts.  He  said  it  seemed  as  if 
his  heart  would  leap  out  of  his  mouth.  Whatever  were  Gil- 
fort's  previous  ideas,  the  thought  now  occurred,  "There's 
flesh  here,  as  well  as  spirit.  It 's  a  godsend.  Now  's  my 
time,  and  I  must  make  the  most  of  it.  Who  knows  but  we 
may  have  a  resurrection  ?  Yea,  if  not  one  thing,  then  an- 
other. My  men  '11  be  witnesses,  and  it '  11  be  seen  whether 
I  'm  a  mere  adventurer." 

This  was  no  sooner  thought,  than  the  muttering,  or  rather 
soliloquizing,  began  again.  "  Och,  Pat,  yer  com'd  up  with, 
at  lingth,  for  that  ye  kicked  the  blissed  life  out  on  her,  ye 
did.  Jenny,  daer,  don't  I  love  ye?  —  don't  ye  love  me'? 
Fait,  bad  luck  to  ye,  Pat,  to  be  dead  as  yet  ye  live  !  Upon 
me  sowl,  there  is  no  brathin  ;  me  brith  laves  jist  as  I  'd  be 
after  catching  it,  and  my  chist  lapes  out  and  in,  like  a  hoss 
with  the  haves."  There  was  a  solemn  stillness  again,  and 
the  men  still  listened,  more  dead  than  alive.  Then  followed 
a  furious  exclamation,  ' '  The  sarpent !  the  sarpent !  There, 
he 's  comin' ;  he^d  be  after  choking  me  !  0  !  0  !  "  resound- 
ing upon  the  canopy  of  night  with  suffocated  violence,  like  a 
man  who  feels  a  serpent  entwining  around  his  neck.  They 
seemed  the  yells  of  a  disturbed  ghost,  to  frighten  the  wild 
beasts  from  their  native  haunts. 

Gilfort  got  down  upon  his  hands  and  knees,  put  his  head  into 
the  hole,  and  uttered  a  piercing  cry,  hoping  to  get  a  response  ; 
but  in  vain, —  the  muttering  being  again  resumed.  "What 
mother's  son  ever  lived  to  see  hiself  dead?  Och,  you  ugly 
baste  with  a  divel's  head,  what  brings  ye  again?  Do  ye 
think  to  stop  me  brith  ?  By  Saint  Pathrick,  I  '11  bate  your 
9 


98  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

brains  out,  I  will !  Take  that,  yer  divil's  head !  "  when  a 
powerful  kick  followed,  upheaving  the  lid  of  the  unnailed 
box,  in  which  a  man  in  grave-clothes  was  revealed  in  the  blue 
light. 

"By  all  the  saints,  where  am  I?"  said  the  man,  now 
speaking  more  freely,  from  the  admission  of  air. 

"  In  hell,"  said  Gilfort,  in  a  guttural,  unearthly  tone. 

"  Measther,  plase  yer  honor,  who  be  you  1 " 

"The  devil,"  said  Gilfort,  in  a  horrible  tone. 

"Yer  riverence,  Measther  Divil,  where  's  the  praest?" 

"  It 's  too  late  for  the  priest  to  help  you ;  you  are  already 
in  hell !  " 

"  Fait,  bad  luck  to  ye,  Pat !  It 's  an  ill  bargain  ye  have 
made,  to  get  out  of  purgatory.  What 's  a  praest  good  for, 
upon  me  sowl?" 

"There  's  no  help  for  you,"  said  Gilfort,  keeping  up  the 
illusion,  for  some  cause  not  easily  explained. 

"  Och,  Pat,  be  asy,"  said  the  man,  "and  take  a  wee  dhrap 
for  yer  thirst.  Ulaloo,  yer  riverence !  do  you  kape  anything 
to  dhrink  ?  " 

"Yes;  melted  brimstone  and  liquid  fire,"  replied  Gilfort, 
not  comprehending  his  meaning. 

"  Och,  on  my  sowl,  what  mother's  son  can  drink  the  like 
of  that?  No  gin,  brandy,  rum  or  whiskey,  in  all  hell,  to 
hilp  a  man  that 's  not  to  be  hilped?  " 

Gilfort  now  understood  his  customer ;  but  to  the  unfortu- 
nate man  the  illusion  was  complete.  He  really  thought,  from 
the  hue  and  odor  of  the  light,  from  his  sense  of  suffocation, 
from  the  devils  that  haunted  him,  and  from  the  tone  and 
manner  in  which  Gilfort  addressed  him,  that  he  was  in  hell. 
But,  conscious  still  of  the  raging  appetite  of  the  drunkard,  no 
fear,  no  horror,  no  sense  of  the  soul's  infinite  and  eternal 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  99 

loss,  could  extinguish  the  desire  which  had  become  the  all- 
absorbing,  the  all-consuming  impulse  of  his  being.  Gilfort 
saw  that  now  was  his  time ;  and,  casting  his  gleaming  eyes 
upon  his  men,  he  said,  in  a  tone  of  command,  "  Stand  still, 
and  see  the  salvation  of  God.  The  end  of  our  money-dig- 
ging is  gained.  A  man  redeemed  is  of  more  value  than 
chests  of  gold.  It  is  an  intimation  from  above,  that  men,  not 
money,  should  be  the  object  of  our  pursuit."  He  then 
uttered  a  shrill  sound,  like  the  whistle  of  a  locomotive,  which 
jarred  frightfully  upon  the  buried  man's  nerves,  and  threw 
him  into  a  tremor  from  head  to  foot.  "  In  the  name  of  God, 
man,  come  forth ! "  he  added.  At  this  the  buried  man 
started  up,  threw  off  his  grave-clothes,  and,  receiving  a 
draught  from  the  canteen,  he  soon  recovered  his  conscious- 
ness, and  was  lifted  out  of  his  grave  by  Gilfort's  followers. 

The  sequel  proved  that  it  was  Tooney,  who,  after  killing , 
his  wife,  ran.  away,  and  enlisted  in  the  United  States  army. 
He  remained  long  enough  to  get  his  bounty-money  and  first 
pay  of  wages,  when  he  deserted,  and  strolled  back  towards 
his  former  home,  as  fast  as  perpetual  drunkenness  would 
allow.  On  the  beach  of  Forest  Point  he  was  taken  with  a 
fit,  and  \vhen  found  was  supposed  to  be  dead,  and  to  have 
been  washed  up  by  the  surf,  as  he  was  drenched  with  water 
and  covered  with  spray.  A  few  persons  had  collected,  at  an 
early  hour  of  the  previous  night,  put  him  into  a  rude  coffin, 
and  buried  him  in  a  hole  which  they  found  already  dug  to 
their  hand.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  bury  bodies  thus 
washed  up,  without  jury  or  coroner,  in  a  partially  organized 
community,  like  that  of  Mapleton ;  and  to  do  it  at  night,  as  a 
partial  relief  against  offensive  odors.  In  this  case,  it  was 
done  more  from  habit  than  necessity.  Whether  Gilfort 
anticipated  the  result  is  an  unsettled  question.  He  cer- 


MAPLETON ;    OR, 

tainly  could  not  know  that  the  man  would  revive,  and  it  was 
doubtless  purely  accidental  that  he  should  have  found  him. 
Men  find  what  they  seek.  If  they  prowl  about  at  night  in 
pursuit  of  prodigies,  prodigies  will  not  be  wanting.  Gilfort's 
passion  in  this  line  amounted  to  a  disease,  the  fruit  no  doubt 
of  artificial  excitement  and  preposterous  training. 

Distorted  statements  of  this  matter  got  abroad,  and  pro- 
duced intense  excitement  among  the  Mapleton  people.  The 
friends  of  Gilfort  insisted  that  he  had  raised  a  man  from  the 
dead,  which  served  the  more  to  increase  the  magic  and  mys- 
tery which  invested  his  name.  The  neighbors  testified  to  the 
fact  of  having  buried  a  man  whose  personal  appearance 
answered  to  that  of  one  whom  they  now  saw  at  Gilfort's 
alive.  The  vacated  grave  on  Forest  Point,  also,  bore  testi- 
mony that  he  was  not  there.  The  man  himself  affirmed  that 
he  had  been  in  hell,  and  had  been  delivered  by  Gilfort.  The 
money-diggers  added  their  testimony,  carefully  stating  only 
so  much  as  to  invest  the  scene  with  mystery  and  miracle. 
The  ignorant  Mapletonians,  fond  of  the  marvellous,  as  a  gen- 
eral thing  leaned  to  that  view  of  the  subject.  A  small  minor- 
ity of  the  more  sober  and  discerning  accepted  the  facts  as 
they  were,  simply  giving  credit  to  the  money-diggers  for  hav- 
ing, by  accident,  released  a  man,  who  had  been  incautiously 
buried  alive,  from  the  most  dreadful  of  all  situations.  There 
was  a  great  commotion  on  the  occasion ;  and  Bludgeon,  whose 
stump  oratory  now  wielded  a  strong  influence  in  town,  pro- 
cured the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  investigate  and 
report  the  facts,  of  which  he  was  made  chairman.  The  com- 
mittee met  at  Gilfort's  both  the  raised  man  and  the  whole 
money-digging  fraternity. 

Bludgeon  began  the  investigation  by  inquiring  of  the  man 
his  name. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       101 

"  Pathrick  Tooney,  plase  yer  honor." 

"  "When  did  you  come  to  town?  " 

"  The  dael  knows, —  sure  not  meself." 

"  What  brought  you  here  1 " 

"The  sarpents  driv  me.  There's  them  now,  by  Saint 
Pathrick  !  Be  off,  ye  ill  bastes,  or  I  '11  be  the  death  of  ye  !  " 
he  exclaimed,  kicking  and  striking  with  great  violence,  so 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  sturdy  money-diggers  kept 
him  from  injuring  himself. 

"The  man  's  crazy,"  said  Bludgeon,  having  never  before 
seen  a  case  of  delirium  tremens. 

"No,  he's  possessed,"  replied  one  of  Gilfort's  followers, 
"  but  the  power  that  called  him  from  the  grave  can  cast  out 
the  devils." 

"Can  one  rum  devil  cast  out  another  rum  devil?  "  said  a 
member  of  the  committee,  who  suspected  the  nature  of  the 
disease. 

"I  shall  suffer  no  slanderous  imputations  in  my  own 
house,"  said  Gilfort,  with  a  tone  that  roused  his  followers,  and 
made  it  unsafe  for  the  committee  to  pursue  its  investigations. 

"Truth  demands  the  investigation,  and  I'll  have  it,  if  I 
die  !  "  replied  Bludgeon,  with  a  movement  of  his  iron  frame 
that  made  the  company  cower  before  such  a  battery  of  bodily 
strength.  "  The  story  is  abroad  that  you,  Gilfort,"  he  added, 
"  have  raised  this  man  from  the  dead,  and  I  am  determined 
to  know  the  truth  of  the  matter." 

"Glad  to  have  the  truth  known,"  said  Gilfort,  "but  I 
must  not  be  insulted." 

"  No  offence  intended,"  said  the  committee-man  whose 
remark  had  raised  this  flurry. 

"You,  then,  have  no  recollection  of  coming  here?     But 
where  did  you  come  from?  "  said  Bludgeon  to  Tooney. 
9* 


102  MAPLETON;   OR, 

"  I  com'd  from  the  barracks,"  said  Tooney ;  "  and  I  tuk  a 
dhrap  for  me  hilth  at  Clare ville  [  Clear ville,  a  little  town  on 
the  eastern  border  of  Mapleton],  and  those  bastes  began 
laping,  and  walluping,  and  skolloping,  roond  me  head  like 
divils;  and  I  run,  run,  run,  till  I  run " 

"Well,  -where?"  interrupted  Bludgeon. 

"  To  hell !  "  said  the  man,  with  a  shudder  of  horror. 

"He  means  that  he  run  till  he  dropped  dead  on  Forest 
Point,"  said  one  of  the  money-diggers. 

"  What  kind  of  a  place  is  hell  ?  "  said  Bludgeon. 

"  An'  faith,  it 's  beyond  me  spaking:  — so  dark,  so  boond 
as  to  me  hands  and  fate, —  so  crawlin'  all  over  with  snakes, — 
so  tight,  tight !  0  !  there  's  no  brathing." 

"And  how  did  you  escape  1 " 

"  In  fath,  I  thought  to  get  a  dhrap  for  me  thirst,  and  to 
find  a  praest  to  get  the  worth  of  me  money ;  but  not  the  divil 
of  a  bit  did  they  hilp  me,  till  that  man,  blessed  sowl  he  is! " 
pointing  to  Gilfort,  "  guv  me  relase,  and  withal  a  dhrap  that 
ased  me  much." 

" Then  whiskey  raised  you  from  the  dead?"  said  Bludgeon, 
•with  a  sneer.  "What  agency  had  you  in  the  matter,  Mr. 
Gilfort?" 

"  I  claim  simply  to  have  had  a  presentiment  that  I  must 
dig  that  night  on  Forest  Point,"  said  Gilfort,  with  great 
apparent  fairness.  "  I  obeyed,  and  the  dead  man  was 
brought  to  life,  and,  he  says,  delivered  from  hell ;  which  I  am 
prepared  to  believe,  from  the  spectres  which  have  haunted  him 
since." 

Thus  Bludgeon  elicited  nothing  to  shake  the  confidence  of 
the  vulgar  rabble  in  Gilfort's  mysterious  powers. 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       103 

So  it  proved  with  Gilfort.  His  Falls  tract  speculation  gave 
him  money,  which  he  invested  in  an  enormous  tract  of  gov- 
ernment land  beyond  the  Mississippi.  And  this  resurrection 
hoax  operated  like  magic  to  draw  colonists  around  him,  who 
not  only  paid  him  a  large  advance  on  the  cost  of  his  lands, 
but  raised  him  to  a  peerless  elevation  as  the  ruler  of  their 
destiny.  But,  whatever  spiritual  hold  Gilfort  may  have 
taken  on  the  deluded  people,  it  is  certain  that  the  physical 
ones  of  rum  and  illicit  love  were  far  more  powerful.  Venus 
and  Bacchus  were  notoriously  the  divinities  of  his  colony,  and 
the  great  charm  to  those  of  a  voluptuous  imagination. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  ALCOHOLIC  TRAFFIC  REACHES  A   CRISIS  IN  MAPLETON. 

"  It  may  be  so  ;  but  yet  my  inward  soul 
Persuades  me  it  is  otherwise.    Howe'er  it  be, 
I  cannot  but  be  sad  :  so  heavy  sad, 
As  —  though,  in  thinking,  on  no  thought  I  think  — 
Makes  me,  with  a  heavy  nothing,  faint  and  shrink. 

SHAKSPEAEE. 

IT  had  by  this  time  come  to  be  whispered  in  Mapleton  that 
Messrs.  Douglass  and  Durham  had  nothing  to  boast  of,  over 
their  neighbors,  on  the  score  of  drunkenness.  "  They  are  at 
heart  as  bad  as  we,"  was  the  consoling  unction  which  many  a 
tippler  took  to  his  conscience.  "  They  need  n't  think  to  set 
themselves  above  us ;  we  know  all  about  them.  Gumpton 
(the  innkeeper,  where  they  were  intoxicated  on  the  way)  has 


104  MAPLETON;    OR, 

told  us,  and  it 's  not  worth  while  for  them  to  play  the  hypo- 
crite. Mr.  Skampton,  too,  says  he  has  seen  them  both  drunk ; 
and  they'll  be  drunk  again,  without  a  doubt.  Their  families 
need  n't  set  themselves  up  in  this  way." 

The  pains  which  Gumpton  and  Skampton  had  taken  to 
propagate  this  scandal  looked  two  ways ;  first,  to  destroy  the 
effect  of  remonstrances  from  those  families  against  the  liquor- 
traffic,  and,  second,  to  reveal  the  danger  that  lurked  within 
their  own  doors.  Every  measure  was  taken  by  interested 
persons  to  involve  Douglass  and  Durham  in  the  common  dis- 
sipation. They  were  invited  on  all  convivial  occasions,  were 
offered  a  treat  at  every  trifling  pretext,  and  were  exposed  to 
all  those  arts  by  which  drinkers  know  so  well  how  to  decoy 
those  whose  appetites  are  like  their  own.  But,  as  yet,  their 
efforts  availed  nothing.  Temperance  yet  overspread  these 
families  with  a  peace  and  prosperity  which  made  them  a  green 
oasis  amid  the  general  desolation. 

Still,  the  fears  which  reigned  within  their  doors  none  knew 
but  themselves  and  their  God.  Mrs.  Durham  was  in  that 
condition  to  make  a  wife  feel  more  than  ever  dependent  on  her 
husband,  and  was  rapidly  approaching  her  crisis  of  pain  and 
agony.  The  winter  had  been  unusually  cold,  thus  far,  and 
the  snow,  in  Mapleton,  had  fallen  deeper  than  ever  before. 
Mr.  Durham  attempted  little  business,  beyond  the  care  of  his 
stock,  and  the  provision  of  fuel,  to  cope  with  the  rigor  of  the 
season.  The  most  of  his  time  he  spent  within  doors,  to  cheer 
his  wife's  despondency  by  reading  and  enlivening  conversation. 
Their  little  Amelia  said,  one  morning,  at  the  breakfast-table, 

"  Mamma,  I  had  a  queer  dream  last  night." 

"  What  was  your  dream,  my  love?"  inquired  her  mother. 

"  I  thought  the  snow  fell  and  fell,  till  it  got  as  high  as  the 
top  of  the  trees,  and  that  our  house  was  covered  with  it  so  deep 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  105 

that  we  could  get  no  wood.  I  thought  the  fire  all  went  out, 
and  then  the  sun  went  out  too,  and  did  not  shine  any  more; 
and  it  was  so  cold,  cold, —  0,  how  cold !  I  thought  I  put 
my  hand  on  you,  and  you  was  cold  as  ice ;  and  then  on  dear 
Charley,  and  he  was  cold  as  ice ;  and  then  on  Sis,  and  she 
was  cold ;  and  I  felt  myself  getting  to  be  ice,  too,  and  shiv- 
ered all  over,  dreadfully.  Then  I  thought  papa  came  home ; 
and  he  was  changed  into  ice,  and  we  were  all  ice  together." 

" My  sweet  Milly,"  said  her  mother,  "you  got  the  clothes 
off,  no  doubt,  and  slept  cold;  that  made  you  dream  so." 

" No,  mamma;  when  I  waked  up,  I  was  just  as  warm  as 
I  am  now." 

"  Milly  has  seen  so  much  snow  this  winter,  no  wonder  she 
dreams  so,"  said  her  father.  "I  think  it's  a  sign  we  are 
going  to  have  warm  weather ;  for  dreams  go  by  contraries, 
you  know." 

"  I  guess  mamma  don't  think  so,"  said  little  Lydia,  look- 
ing up,  with  a  cunning  and  embarrassed  look,  out  of  her  glis- 
tening eyes,  as  if  she  were  saying  something  she  ought  not. 

"Why  not,  you  black-eyed  pet?"  said  her  father,  gayly. 

"Because  she  weeps;  I  saw  her  weep  to  —  to-morrow." 
added  the  child,  hesitating  whether  to  use  that  word  or 
"yesterday." 

uNo;  yesterday,  you  mean,  dearest,"  said  her  father. 

"Yes,  she  weeps  sometimes,"  replied  Lydia. 

"My  dear  wife,"  said  Mr.  Durham,  with  genuine  tender- 
ness, "I  have  mistrusted  what  this  little  witness  testifies  of 
you.  I  am  afraid  you  have  some  grief  at  heart  which  you 
do  not  tell  me  of." 

"No,  Charles,  none,  except  that,  in  my  present  condition, 
I  cannot  bear  to  have  you  a  minute  out  of  my  sight.  We 
are  so  far  from  neighbors,  and  I  am  now  so  helpless,  that,  if 


106  MAPLETON;    OB, 

you  are  gone  an  hour,  I  tremble  all  over,  like  an  aspen-leaf. 
I  am  all  the  time  thinking  that  something  may  happen  to 
you  when  I  could  neither  relieve  you  nor  help  myself,  nor  do 
anything  for  our  dear  little  ones,  so  perfectly  powerless  do  I 
feel  myself  to  be.  These  are  foolish  feelings,  I  know ;  *but  I 
cannot  help  them.  They  will  come  up,  in  spite  of  me ;  and 
I  suppose  they  may  have  caused  me  to  shed  the  tears  which 
dear  little  Sis  has  brought  into  court  against  me." 

"  That  reminds  me  to  say  —  what  I  have  had  in  my  mind 
some  days  —  that  I  think  we  had  better  get  Ma'am  Tobey  to 
stay  with  you  till  after  your  confinement.  She  is  said  to  be 
an  excellent  nurse,  and,  withal,  a  very  agreeable  companion. 
This  will  relieve  your  feelings,  my  dear  Amelia,  during  the 
few  hours  of  the  day  I  am  compelled  to  be  out  of  the  house." 

"You  are  very  kind,  my  husband,"  replied  Mrs.  Durham, 
with  tears  of  gratitude  glistening  in  her  eyes.  "Perhaps  it 
would  be  advisable.  We  cannot  tell  what  may  happen  to 
one  in  my  circumstances ;  and  I  cannot  overcome  my  fear  of 
being  left  alone  with  the  children." 

"  Well,  I  will  attend  to  a  few  things  about  the  farm  this 
morning,  and  then  will  go,  with  the  sleigh,  and  bring  Ma'am 
Tobey.  I  know  she  will  take  it  as  a  favor  to  come,  in  her 
present  dependent  situation.  Her  husband  and  sons,  having 
sunk  together  into  the  slough  of  our  town  drunkery,  are  gone 
all  the  time ;  and  I  am  told  that  she,  poor  thing,  has  neither 
food  to  eat  nor  fuel  to  keep  her  warm." 

Accordingly,  Mr.  Durham  left  immediately  after  dinner, 
kissing  his  wife  and  children  tenderly,  and  assuring  them  that 
he  would  be  back  before  dark,  and  they  need  not  fear.  Still, 
Mrs.  Durham  felt  a  timidity  she  could  not  overcome.  A 
heavy  cloud  hung  upon  her  spirits,  for  which  she  could  not 
account.  She  betook  herself  to  prayer,  in  which  she  found 


MORE  WOKK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  107 

strong  consolation  from  the  hope  of  a  better  world,  where 
maternal  solicitude  would  visit  her  no  more,  where  the  storms 
of  winter,  then  howling  fearfully  around  her  dwelling,  would 
no  more  overcast  her  serene  sky,  and  where  anxiety  for  hei 
husband's  safety,  in  person  or  morals,  would  not  hold  her  in 
suspense  and  torture, —  but  where  all  would  be  security,  peace 
and  joy,  transporting  and  immortal.  Her  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions acquired  a  mysterious  unearthliness,  as  if  nothing  more 
awaited  her  in  this  region  of  death,  but  only  in  the  bright 
reversion  of  angelic  life  and  immortal  day. 

To  amuse  herself,  she  gathered  her  little  ones  around  her, 
and  spent  several  hours  in  teaching  them  to  read,  in  talking 
to  them  of  heaven, — of  the  happy  circles  there,  where  father, 
mother  and  children,  all  meet,  and  mingle  in  sweet  discourse, 
to  sin  no  more,  to  suffer  no  more,  to  part  no  more.  Her 
words  were  words  of  inspiration  to  the  dear  little  group,  and 
they  sat  listening  in  rapt  meditation,  with  clasped  hands  and 
uplifted  and  adoring  eyes.  Night  drew  on,  and  the  storm 
raged  more  and  more  fearfully.  The  snow,  which  began  to 
fall  soon  after  her  husband  left,  had  added  one  or  two  feet 
to  the  underlying  accumulation  of  previous  storms,  so  as  to 
create  the  most  serious  apprehension  as  to  whether  he  could 
make  his  way  through  the  drifts.  She  summoned  all  her 
firmness,  and  all  her  stock  of  courage,  for  the  sake  of  her" 
children.  It  would  have  gratified  her  to  see  them  remain 
awake,  as  a  relief  to  her  loneliness ;  but,  at  their  appointed 
hour,  they  were  sinking  into  the  sweet,  profound  forgetfulness 
of  childhood's  sleep ;  and  she  put  them  into  their  beds,  after 
hearing  them  say  their  prayers. 

What  next?  She  strained  her  eyes  at  the  window,  to 
penetrate  the  gathering  storm  and  darkness,  if  possible  to 
catch  a  glimpse  —  one  hope-inspiring  glimpse  —  of  his  loved 


108  MAPLETON;    OR, 

and  adored  form ;  but  all,  all  in  vain.  No  husband  came. 
She  listened  to  hear  the  familiar  tones  of  his  voice,  in  speak- 
ing to  his  horses ;  but  no  sound  greeted  her,  except  those  of 
the  raging  tempest  and  creaking  forests,  with  the  occasional 
crash  of  a  frost-bound  tree  or  limb,  in  sinking  into  the  under- 
lying snow.  She  bethought  herself  of  Charles  Douglass' 
last  letter,  which  she  had  not  answered ;  took  it  from  her 
portfolio,  and  began  reading  and  writing,  to  divert  her  thoughts 
from  the  horrible  ideas  which  had  caken  possession  of  her 
mind.  Young  Douglass  had  been  her  constant  correspondent 
from  the  time  of  his  leaving  for  college ;  and  his  last  letter 
contained  facts  in  which  she  had  the  liveliest  interest,  and 
•which,  for  the  moment,  had  the  effect  of  diverting  her  mind. 
It  seems  that,  when  he  had  nearly  completed  his  senior 
year,  the  college  was  visited  by  the  Honorable  Michael 
Skampton,  as  this  gentleman  was  called  in  those  parts ;  or, 
rather,  he  passed  more  frequently  as  the  patron,  or  patroon, — 
or,  as  his  enemies  would  have  it,  the  patron  saint, —  quali- 
fying terms,  except  the  last,  more  gratifying  to  his  pride  than 
his  civil  distinctions,  because  they  touched  the  point  of  his 
character  where  lay  his  ruling  passion.  He  lived,  and  earned, 
and  ground  the  face  of  the  poor,  and  trampled  on  the  laws  of 
humanity,  and  preyed  like  a  vulture  on  the  vices  of  society, 
to  get  the  means  of  buying,  on  a  large  scale,  reputation  and 
influence  as  a  benefactor.  The  whole  college  was  called 
together  in  the  chapel,  in  anticipation  of  his  arrival ;  and, 
when  he  entered,  escorted  by  the  faculty,  the  assembled 
students  and  functionaries  rose  to  do  him  honor.  He  was 
shown  the  seat  usually  occupied  by  the  president,  the  latter 
gentleman  taking  a  subordinate  place  to  the  greatest  patron 
Diddington  College  had  ever  enjoyed.  Charles,  having 
learned,  by  this  time,  the  wreck  to  which  he  had  reduced  his 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  109 

own  beautiful  Mapleton,  by  means  of  his  detestable  groggery, 
would  not  rise  with  the  rest,  which  exposed  him  to  the  repri- 
mand of  the  faculty,  and  to  the  indignation  of  this  modern 
Haman. 

Young  Douglass  had  signalized  himself  more  than  any 
of  the  students  in  the  cause  of  temperance.  He  had 
induced  a  large  number  of  them  to  sign  the  pledge.  Ho  had 
delivered  many  temperance  lectures  in  Diddington,  and  had 
spent  his  vacations  in  lecturing  wherever  there  was  an  open 
door.  He  had  had  such  a  fearful  home  experience  of  the 
evils  of  drinking,  that  he  committed  his  energies  to  this  cause, 
and  determined  to  prosecute  it  by  all  the  means  in  his  power. 
He  made  it  a  point  of  conscience,  however,  never  to  infringe 
upon  college  laws  or  study  hours,  in  doing  it.  The  faculty 
had  no  charge  of  neglect  or  insubordination  to  allege  against 
him.  True,  he  had  made  himself  obnoxious  to  the  wine- 
bibbing  students,  and  particularly  to  his  old  friend  and  school- 
fellow, Harry  Howard,  whose  habits  were  very  dissipated. 
Harry's  parents  were  wealthy,  and  furnished  him  all  the 
money  he  desired  to  expend,  which  was  not  a  little.  Money, 
not  study,  preserved  his  standing  in  his  class.  His  nights 
were  spent  in  revelling,  in  spite  of  college  law  or  discipline  ; 
his  lessons  were  neglected,  and  he  was  the  ringleader  in  mis- 
chief. Charles  felt  all  the  tenderness  for  Harry  of  his 
childhood's  recollections,  and,  for  a  time,  associated  with  him 
on  terms  of  too  much  familiarity.  This  brought  him 
acquainted  with  many  of  Harry's  tricks,  which,  when  ques- 
tioned by  the  faculty  on  the  subject,  he  found  he  must  con- 
ceal by  lies  or  confess  with  honesty.  In  an  alternative  like 
this,  he  had  but  one  course  before  him,  and  that  was  to  speak 
the  truth.  This  brought  upon  him  the  malignity  of  young 
Howard,  and  of  the*  rowdies  under  his  influence,  who  let  no 
10 


110  MAPLETON;    OR, 

opportunity  slip  of  treating  him  with  abuse  and  slander. 
Their  stories  ta  the  faculty  had  little  effect,  because  the 
motive  of  them  was  too  well  understood. 

But  Skampton,  who  was  president  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
and  more  powerful  than  the  faculty,  drank  in  their  stories 
with  avidity.  He  collected  the  names  of  the  students  who 
were  known  to  be  associated  with  Charles  in  the  temperance 
cause, —  all  of  whom,  as  it  appeared,  were  also  on  the  same 
foundation  to  which  he  had  been  admitted, —  and  gave  them  a 
formal  reprimand  for  their  course,  and  particularly  for  slander- 
ing Master  Howard.  There  were  twelve  of  the  students 
whose  names  Skampton  had  on  a  bit  of  paper  before  him, 
that  of  Douglass  being  at  the  head  of  the  list.  Reading  over 
these,  names,  he  said,  "  Youpg  gentlemen,  I  call  you  together 
to  let  you  know  that  you  are  dependent  on  my  bounty  for  a 
place  in  this  college ;  and,  if  you  do  not  cease  from  these  tem- 
perance lectures  and  agitations,  I  '11  drop  you  at  once,  and 
leave  you  to  shirk  for  yourselves." 

The  blood  flushed  in  Charles'  face,  and  with  ill-suppressed 
indignation  he  exclaimed,  "  It  is  new  to  me,  sir,  that  I  have 
received  a  cent  of  your  money.  But  it  shall  not  be  so  another 
day ;  I  will  refund  it.  I  will  not  receive  the  bounty  of  a  man 
who  has  lived  by  demoralizing  society,  and  whose  very  money 
is  the  price  of  blood  !  " 

"What  do  you  say,  sir?"  said  Skampton,  boiling  over 
with  rage. 

(<  I  say  I  will  not  have  your  money.  I  know  too  well  how 
you  get  it.  I  am  familiar  with  the  tears,  poverty  and  mur- 
der, which  it  has  occasioned  in  my  own  town,  and  among  my 
own  friends." 

"You  are  a  dirty  little  dog!"  said  Skampton,  trembling 
with  excitement.  "  You  shall  be  expelled  this  college  before 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  Ill 

the  sun  goes  down,  and  I  '11  prosecute  your  father  for 
slander!" 

"  Not  my  father,  sir,"  said  Charles;  "I  am  of  age,  and 
can  answer  for  myself." 

With  this  Skampton  flew  out  of  the  house,  and  left  the 
assembled  group  to  their  own  way.  Charles  called  on  a 
temperance  friend  in  town,  stated  the  facts  of  the  case, 
and  asked  a  loan  of  money  to  pay  up  all  he  had  drawn  on  the 
Skampton  foundation,  interest  and  principal.  This  was  freely 
granted  him ;  and  that  night,  when  the  officer  came  to  take 
him  on  a  charge  of  slander,  he  was  able  to  stand  up  with  the 
proud  consciousness  of  owing  nothing  to  a  fund  collected  by 
means  so  detestable,  so  abhorrent  to  humanity.  The  suit  fell 
to  the  ground  by  a  nolle  prosequi,  Marldon  advising  his 
client  that  the  facts  following  the  opening  of  his  Mapleton 
tavern,  which  would  be  magnified  to  justify  what  defendant 
had  said  against  him,  rendered  such  a  suit  hopeless  before 
any  jury  to  be  empanelled  in  these  temperance  times.  But 
in  the  matter  of  the  expulsion  Skampton  was  more  successful, 
because,  much  as  the  faculty  and  trustees  regretted  it,  they 
felt  the  leanness  of  their  treasury,  and  were  willing  to  burn 
incense  to  the  indignation  of  a  man  on  whom  they  were  so 
dependent.  For  this  act,  however,  Charles  did  not  care  a 
copper,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  felt  the  strength  of 
his  own  position  as  a  student.  He  knew  he  was  far  in 
advance  of  what  his  class  would  be  when  their  senior  year  had 
expired.  Besides,  he  could  study  as  well  out  of  the  walls  of 
a  college  as  in,  and  much  more  to  his  own  satisfaction.  The 
loss  of  a  degree  he  did  not  value  a  straw,  as  the  country  was 
filled  with  graduated  dunces ;  and  he  gloried  in  a  non-gradu- 
ating preeminence.  There  may  have  been  some  human  feeling 
in  all  this ;  but  then  it  was  natural,  under  the  circumstances, 


112  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

to  a  young  man  in  the  warm  blood  of  his  first  month's  majority, 
and  exposed  to  such  indignities  and  provocations.  Corpora- 
tions that  suffer  themselves  to  he  controlled  by  mercenary 
considerations  and  designing  men  must  expect  to  have  the 
wares  in  which  they  deal  depreciated  in  the  market,  and  a 
loathing  to  noble  minds.  So  capricious  are  their  doings,  in 
,many  cases,  that  it  may  be  said  of  them,  as  the  lawyer  said 
of  the  decisions  of  a  petit  jury,  that,  though  he  believed  that 
God  fore-knew  whatever  comes  to  pass,  he<  thought  such 
decisions  must  be  excepted  from  the  remark,  for  they  were 
too  uncertain  to  be  fore-known. 

The  letter  which  poor  Mrs.  Durham  was  amusing  herself 
with  detailed,  these  facts.  She  read  it  over  and  over  again, 
listening  to  the  storm  as  she  read,  trembling  with  fear,  and 
tormented  with  apprehensions,  which  none  can  realize  who 
have  not  been  in  her  condition ;  not  the  least  of  which  was, 
that  her  husband  might  have  fallen  into  this  very  grog- 
gery  which  had  been  a  cause  of  so  much  trouble  to  young 
Douglass.  She  at  length  took  her  pen  and  wrote  her  full 
approval  of  Charles'  conduct  in  the  matter,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  detail  the  more  recent  doings  of  the  alcoholic  traffic 
in  Mapleton.  She  stated  the  sufferings  of  poor  Ma'am  Tobey, 
and  that  her  husband  had  then  gone  to  bring  her  to  their 
house.  She  informed  him  that  the  worthy  and  venerable  Mr. 
Robson,  after  inveighing  against  the  groggery  with  all  his 
might,  had  been  drawn  in,  and  added  to  the  number  of  its 
victims.  He  had  been  an  early  prey  to  intemperate  habits, 
from  which  he  refrained  for  some  years,  but  was  now  taken 
the  more  easily  by  the  destroyer.  His  age  and  infirmities 
could  not  withstand  this  late  return  to  the  vice,  delirium 
tremens  soon  ensued,  and  he  had  died  in  the  most  dreadful 
torments.  ."  He  begged  his  friends  to  kill  him  at  a  blow,  for 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       113 

the  devils  that  tormented  him  were  more  unendurable  than 
hell  itself.  0  Charles,  Charles  !  what  are  we  to  say  to  these 
things  1  How  happens  it  that  this  alone,  of  all  our  diseases, 
produces  such  a  sense  of  being  tormented  by  devils  ?  Is  it 
real,  or  is  it  altogether  imaginary  ?  Do  tell  me,  in  your  next, 
AY  hat  you  think." 

Then  her  pen  seemed  to  float  at  random,  as  if  to  divert  her 
own  corroding  thoughts,  more  than  from  any  intention  of 
transmitting  the  un copied  document.  "  Charles,  Charles  ! 
what  are  we  to  do?  Dear  me!  dear  me,  husband !  why  don't 
you  come, —  come  to  your  agonized  Amelia!  The  storm 
howls,  howls!  0,  God!  when  will  he  come?  The  clock 
strikes  eleven.  Eleven  !  0, —  0  !  eleven  of  this  dismal  night ! 
and  I, —  I  and  my  little  ones  away  in  this  howling  wilderness  ! 
alone,  so  many  miles  from  all  help  and  all  relief!  I  can't  be 
quiet !  No  !  no !  no !  I  scream, —  I  can 't  help  screaming !  0, 
my  husband !  where  are  you,  dearest,  that  you  come  not  to 
the  help  of  your  terrified  wife,  who  loves,  who  adores  you  ? 
My  God,  take  care  of  him, —  take  care  of  me, —  take  care  of 
my  little  ones  !  Do  !  do !  do !  —  yes,  to  heaven  take  us  all ! 
—  all,  if  one  must  go  !  0, —  0  !  there,  I  'm  screaming  again  ! 
I  can 't  help  it !  0, —  0, —  0  !  mad, —  mad, —  mad  !  I  must 
to  bed."  These  broken  sentences  were  almost  illegible  from 
the  tears  with  which  they  were  bedewed,  #nd  doubtless  fol- 
lowed by  convulsions. 

The  explanation  of  thia  sad  delay  was  as  terrific  to  Mr. 
Douglass  as  to  poor  Durham.  It  seems  that  these  two 
gentlemen  had  unfortunately  met  nearly  opposite  that  hell  of 
the  town,  the  groggery.  It  was  cold,  and  snowing  fiercely. 
They  sat  a  short  time  talking  from  each  other's  sleighs,  when 
that  emissary  of  the  devil,  the  landlord,  came  running  out,  with 
his  face  covered  with  seductive  smiles  and  hia  tongue  dropping 
10* 


114  MAPLETON;    OR, 

sweet  words  like  honey-dew,  and  saying  to  Mr.  Douglass  that 
he  had  been  striving  many  days  to  see  him,  upon  a  pressing 
matter  of  business,  and  if  that  gentleman  and  Mr.  Durham 
would  come  in  and' warm  themselves  a  single  moment,  he 
would  see  their  horses  well  cared  for,  and  it  would  be  much 
to  their  own  comfort.  "  With  his  much  fair  speech  he  caused 
them  to  yield ;  with  the  flattery  of  his  lips  he  forced  them ; 
and  they  went  straightway  as  an  ox  to  the  slaughter,  or  as  a 
fool  to  the  correction  of  the  stocks ;  till  a  dart  struck  through 
their  liver;  as  a  bird  hasteth  to  the  snare,  and  knew  not 
that  it  was  for  their  life."  The  winds  swept  over  the  plain, 
the  lake  roared  in  the  distance,  with  waves  as  sluggish  from 
anchor  ice  as  a  boiling  caldron  of  quicksilver,  and  the  whole 
scene  of  wintry  cold  and  desolation  without  conspired  to  give 
point  and  power  to  the  serpent's  charm  within,  and  to  the 
deadly  coil  in  which  he  was  enfolding  their  hearts. 

Their  horses  all  sweating  with  fatigue  in  wallowing  through 
the  snow,  they  finally  reined  up  under  the  shed,  and  followed 
their  tempter  into  his  hell.  Durham  hesitated,  and  hesitated ; 
said  his  wife  was  alone,  and  peculiarly  needed  his  presence; 
but  still  he  followed.  The  landlord  offered  them  something 
to  drink,  and  expatiated  on  the  necessity  of  it  on  so  cold  a  day, 
and  after  so  much  exposure.  They  at  first  declined,  seeming 
to  feel  their  danger,  and  to  be  conscious  that  they  stood  on  the 
brink  of  a  precipice.  But,  after  warming  themselves  a  while, 
and  being  further  plied  with  fair  words  by  their  host,  Doug- 
lass said  he  was  all  in  a  tremor  and  chilled  to  his  very  vitals ; 
he  believed  a  mug  of  hot  gingered  cider  would  do  him  good, 
and  he  ordered  it.  He  poured  a  glass  for  his  friend,  and  also 
for  himself,  and  they  drank  it  together. 

But  no  sooner  had  the  poison  entered  their  veins  than  they 
lost  sight  of  every  motive  to  sobriety,  and  alcoholic  fancies 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  115 

swarmed  around  them,  like  devils  in  the  plumage  of  paradise. 
Glass  after  glass  of  brandy  was  called  in ;  Durham  began  to 
sing,  and  Douglass  to  fight ;  and  the  inn  was  a  hell  indeed, 
and  they  its  devils.  Douglass  staid  till  twelve  of  the  night, 
when  his  two  sons,  George  and  Samuel,  with  a  posse  of  men 
from  the  farm,  came  to  hunt  for  him,  suspecting  the  fact, 
and,  by  main  force,  drew  a  strait-jacket  over  him,  and  took 
him  home,  howling  to  the  wintry  winds  like  a  fiend  from  the 
realm  of  darkness.  That  incarnation  of  evil,  the  publican, 
finding  Durham  peaceable,  and,  withal,  flush  of  money,  hus- 
tled him  into  another  room  when  the  young  Douglasses  came, 
so  that  they  left  without  the  knowledge  of  his  presence.  Nor 
did  their  father,  in  the  long-continued  series  of  drunken  fits 
which  ensued,  mention  the  fact.  The  consequence  was,  that 
Durham  laid  two  weeks  drunk  in  the  groggery.  At  the  expi- 
ration of  this  time,  he  fell  into  a  profound  sleep,  from  which  he 
did  not  awake  for  twelve  hours ;  and,  when  he  did  finally  awake, 
the  insanity  of  intoxication  had  passed,  and  the  first  thought 
he  had  was  of  his  wife  and  children.  He  had  no  idea  of  the 
time  of  his  separation,  more  than  if  he  had  laid  all  these  days 
in  a  fit.  He  sprang  convulsively  to  his  feet,  and  hastened  to 
the  shed ;  but  found  his  horses  so  nearly  starved  by  the  ava- 
ricious landlord  that  he  could  not  trust  to  tlj«ir  taking  him 
home  through  the  snow.  His  next  thought  was  to  run  to 
Mr.  Holliston's,  which  he  did,  and  acquainted  him  with  the 
state  of  his  affairs,  trusting  he  might  prove  a  comfort  to  his 
wife,  both  as  physician  and  minister.  Mr.  Holliston  got  up 
his  own  horses,  and  took  poor  Durham  to  his  family  with  all 
despatch,  being  also  ignorant  of  the  length  of  time  that  he 
had  been  absent  from  them.  They  passed  Ma'am  Tobey's, 
but  found  the  house  sunk  in  a  snow-drift,  and  not  a  soul  in 
it.  This  excited  alarm  in  Durham's  mind.  They  then  hur- 


116  MAPLBTON;    OR, 

ried  as  fast  as  the  unbroken  road  would  admit,  struggling  on 
till  sundown,  when  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  house ; 
but  found  it  also  buried  in  the  snow,  and  no  sign  of  life  near, 
except  a  few  half-starved  and  half-frozen  cattle.  Durham 
jumped  out  of  the  sleigh,  and,  rushing  ahead,  pushed  his  way 
by  force  through  the  closed  door,  when  he  found  the  interior 
a  complete  drift,  that  had  come  down  chimney,  and  sifted 
through  every  unguarded  crevice.  By  this  time  Mr.  Hol- 
liston  was  upon  his  heels,  anxious  to  find  how  matters  stood 
within. 

But,  0,  horror  !  horror !  God  have  mercy  on  the  drunk- 
ard's family !  There  lay  Mrs.  Durham  on  her  own  bed, 
cold  and  stiff,  with  a  new-born  infant,  naked,  at  her  side,  also 
dead  and  frozen !  Behind  the  mother,  and  pressed  close 
against  her  person,  was  dear  little  Charles,  with  his  icy  arms 
enfolding  her,  and  every  drop  of  blood  congealed  in  his  veins. 
They  then  hastened  to  the  little  girls'  room,  and  found  them 
in  their  bed,  emaciated  to  mere  skeletons,  but  not  so  long 
dead  as  to  be  completely  frozen.  They,  too,  were  locked  in 
each  other's  little  arms.  The  fears  of  poor  Mrs.  Durham 
had  evidently  brought  on  a  premature  birth,  ending  in  con- 
vulsions, the  very  night  of  her  husband's  departure,  and  she 
and  the  infant  had  frozen  together.  Little  Charles,  with  a 
child's  instinct,  had  clung  to  his  dead  mother,  and  his  arms 
were  soon  frozen  by  the  icy  contact,  from  which  point  the 
frosts  of  death  gradually  spread  over  his  whole  Jbody.  The 
little  girls  had  kept  up  as  long  as  they  could,  without  wood 
or  food,  and  then  had  crept  together  into  their  bed,  to  find  an 
icy  grave.  Poor  little  Amelia's  prophetic  dream  was  more 
than  fulfilled. 

No  words,  no  description,  can  reach  the  reality.  It  was  a 
charnel-house  of  the  horrible  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks. 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  117 

The  frozen  victims  of  this  worse  than  Moloch,  in  his  thirst 
for  innocent  blood,  with  the  lines  of  sorrow  still  visible  in 
their  indurated  features,  uttered,  in  the  dumb  accents  of 
death,  such  a  remonstrance  against  our  legislation  on  this 
subject,  as  to  appal  and  confound  those  who  have  given  their 
voice  and  vote  in  its  favor,  0,  detestable  legislation !  who 
can  number  thy  dead  ?  Who  can  estimate  thy  crimes  ? 
Who  can  tell  the  extent  of  the  pauperage,  the  poverty  and 
the  wretchedness,  which  owe  their  being  to  thee  1 

Mr.  Holliston  was  silent,  and  so  was  Durham.  It  was  a 
case  to  baffle  feeling,  and  beggar  language.  They  dug  some 
wood  from  under  the  snow,  and  lighted  a  fire.  Durham  was 
helpful  in  all  this.  Mr.  Holliston  then  proposed  to  go  and 
bring  in  the  neighbors. 

"Mr.  Durham,"  said  he,  "perhaps  you  will  feel  better  to 
go  with  me." 

"No,"  said  Durham,  quietly,  "you  go,  and  I'll  stay  and 
watch  the  fire  and  keep  the  house." 

"Very  well;  I'll  be  back  soon,"  said  Mr.  Holliston,  not 
a  little  surprised  at  the  self-possession  of  the  miserable  man. 
But,  had  he  looked  cautiously,  he  would  have  seen  in  it  the 
suicide's  calmness.  His  eyes  were  glassy  and  fixed.  It  was 
the  repose  of  despair ;  it  was  the  self-possession  of  one  to 
whom  living  was  death,  and  death  his  only  life.  Not  a  tear 
did  he  shed,  not  a  groan  did  he  utter,  not  a  complaint  did  he 
make.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Holliston  was  gone,  he  took  the  pen 
that  had  dropped  from  the  fingers  of  his  dying  wife,  thawed 
out  the  inkstand,  and  wrote  on  the  paper,  under  the  last 
tear-besmeared  lines  of  her  agitated  hand,  the  following  note  : 

"  This  world  is  my  hell.  There  can  be  no  worse.  I  have 
a  duty  to  do  to  my  departed  wife  and  children,  which  I  go 


118  MAPLETON;    OR, 

to  discharge.  I  must  confess  at  their  feet  my  crime,  and 
beseech  them  to  forgive  me.  Dear,  dear  ones,  I  follow  you 
to  the  spirit-land !  CHARLES  DURHAM." 

When  Mr.  Holliston  returned,  with  the  neighbors,  they 
found  him  hung  with  a  rope  to  one  of  the  beams  of  his  house, 
and  quite  dead. 

At  the  funeral,  which  was  attended  by  the  whole  town, — 
yea,  by  neighboring  towns,  also, —  Mr.  Holliston  delivered  an 
address  on  the  evils  of  the  liquor-traffic,  in  which  he  detailed 
its  sad  ravages  in  their  once  peaceful  and  prosperous  town. 
They  then  buried  the  whole  family  in  one  grave,  laying  the 
dear  little  infant  on  the  breast  of  its  sorrow-stricken  mother, 
and  the  others  side  by  side,  according  to  their  ages.  After 
the  burial,  Thomas  Bludgeon  harangued  the  assembled  mul- 
titude. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "what's  to  be  done?  Here  is  a 
den  in  our  town  which  the  sober,  respectable  and  industrious, 
enter,  to  come  out  drunkards,  paupers  and  beggars.  Here  is 
a  den  into  which  our  children  are  decoyed,  and  come  out  a 
blight  to  parental  hopes.  Here  is  a  den  which  the  happy 
wedded  couple  visit,  only  to  violate  their  plighted  vows,  and 
become  a  curse  to  their  children.  Here  is  a  den  to  sink  for- 
ever the  hard  earnings  of  labor ;  yea,  worse,  to  make  them  a 
blight  and  curse  to  those  by  whose  sweat  they  were  acquired. 
This  den  is  inhabited  by  a  sorcerer,  the  touch  of  whose  wand 
converts  ministers  and  churches  into  hypocrites,  Sabbaths 
into  scenes  of  bacchanalian  riot  and  revelry,  school-houses 
into  kennels,  and  earth  into  hell.  Here  is  a  monster  before 
whom  law  is  a  rope  of  sand,  and  the  bonds  of  society  a  gos- 
samer web,  to  be  blown  to  the  winds.  Here  is  a  school 
which  graduates  moderate  drinkers  confirmed  drunkards, 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  119 

honest  people  knaves,  cut-throats  and  assassins.  Will  you 
suffer  this  den  longer  to  exist  among  you  ?  Will  you  allow 
this  sorcerer  to  exercise  his  damnable  magic?  Will  you 
allow  this  monster  to  seize  more  victims,  and  this  school  to 
multiply  among  us  its  detestable  pupils?" 

"  No,  no,  no !"  cried  many  thousands,  all  bathed  in  tears 
at  the  spectacle  they  had  witnessed,  and  mad  with  indigna- 
tion against  its  guilty  cause.  "  Law  or  no  law, —  no,  no,  no ! 
Down  with  the  groggery  ! " 

"  Yes,  law  or  no  law  ! "  replied  Bludgeon ;  and,  raising  his 
hands  to  heaven,  shaking  his  iron  frame  in  defiance,  and 
casting  his  flaming  eyes  in  the  direction  of  the  inn,  he  added, 
"I  swear,  by  the  eternal  God,  that  hell  shall  not  pollute  this 
town  another  day.  Who  dares  stand  by  right  against  law  ? 
Let  him  speak." 

"  I  dare  !  "  "  I !  "  "  I !  "  "  I !  "  cried  innumerable  voices. 
"  Down  with  the  groggery  !  down  with  the  groggery  !  down 
with  the  groggery  !  " 

"Come  on,  then!"  said  Bludgeon;  "come  on,  come  on, 
ye  men  of  Mapleton,  who  are  for  casting  out  the  devil  in 
spite  of\)riests  and  lawyers  !  follow  me  to  the  assault !  " 

"  To  the  assault !  to  the  assault !  lead  on,  and  we  '11  fol- 
low !  Down  with  the  groggery  !  down  with  the  groggery  !." 
repeated  a  thousand  stentorian  voices,  in  tones  that  made  the 
welkin  ring.  Off  rushed  the  infuriated  multitude,  headed  by 
Bludgeon,  and  began  their  work  by  emptying  the  detestable 
sink  of  all  its  valuables,  pouring  its  alcohol  into  the  gutters, 
and  ending  by  making  a  bonfire  of  the  building. 

"Where's  the  landlord?  —  this  hell-hound, —  where  is 
he?  where  is  he?"  cried  innumerable  voices. 

"  Here  he  is !  here  he  is !  hid  in  the  stable ! "  replied  some. 

"  Bring  him  out !  bring  him  out ! "  was  the  imperious  de- 


120  MAPLETON;  OR, 

mand  on  all  sides.  The  trembling  publican  was  brought  out, 
and,  after  a  mock  trial,  was  condemned  to  a  coat  of  tar 
and  feathers,  and  to  be  rode  out  of  town  upon  a  rail.  The 
decree  was  no-  sooner  passed  than  executed,  and  the  miserable 
wretch  was  dipped  into  a  cask  of  tar,  and  then  rolled  in  the 
feathers  of  one  of  his  own  beds,  and,  in  this  plight,  was 
mounted  on  a  rail,  which  was  carried,  in  solemn  procession,  a 
distance  of  seven  miles,  where  he  was  placed  out  of  town, 
with  a  threat  of  being  worse  dealt  by  if  he  ever  entered  it 
again. 

Skampton  sued  the  town,  laying  his  damages  at  ten  thou- 
sand dollars.  Marldon  pleaded  his  cause,  urging  the  respons- 
ibility of  government  to  protect  the  property  of  its  citizens 
against  mob  violence.  "Government,"  he  said,  "pledges 
itself  to  this,  by  levying  and  receiving  taxes.  The  tax-payer 
would  have  no  quid  pro  quo,  if  he  could  not  claim  indem- 
nity against  the  depredations  of  a  mob.  Hence,  the  state  or 
town  is  in  equity  bound  to  make  good  the  losses  thus  sus- 
tained." It  was  in  vain  that  the  opposing  counsel  pleaded  the 
law  of  nuisances  against  the  groggery,  because  the  license  of 
the  state,  by  which  it  had  been  established,  was  urged,  on  the 
other  side,  as  an  express  guarantee  of  protection,  over  and 
above  what  could  be  claimed  for  property  in  general.  "  Do 
you  mean  to  make  the  state  answerable  for  all  the  pauper- 
age,  misery  and  murder,  which  this  groggery  has  introduced 
into  our  town?"  said  the  counsel  for  defendants.  "If  so, 
your  honors,"  he  added,  addressing  the  court,  "nothing 
remains  but  to  prosecute  the  state  for  locating  among  us  a 
nuisance  so  destructive  to  its  own  laws,  so  prejudicial  to 
our  interests."  The  cause  went  against  the  town,  it  being 
mulcted  in  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  by  means  of 
which  Skampton,  in  due  time,  restored  his  groggery,  and 
renewed  his  work  of  ruin  among-  the  people. 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  121 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE  DESPAIR  AND   HOPE   OF  A   DRUNKARD'S  SON. 

"  Go  feel  what  I  have  felt,  — 

Go  bear  what  I  have  borne  ; 
Sink  'neath  the  blow  a  father  dealt, 

And  the  cold  world's  proud  scorn. 
Then  suffer  on  from  year  to  year, 
Thy  sole  relief  the  scorching  tear." 

CHARLES'  return  to  Mapleton  was  attended  by  a  melancholy 
pleasure.  He  rejoiced  to  meet  his  friends,  but  mourned  — 
0,  how  bitterly !  —  at  the  corrupted  state  of  society  and 
family  wrecks  which  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  had 
occasioned.  He  visited  the  desolated  home  of  the  Durhams, 
and  found  the  house  occupied  by  cattle,  the  conservatory  a 
resort  of  swine,  the  garden  overrun  with  weeds,  and  all  its 
beauty  defaced,  all  its  glory  departed.  He  remembered  his 
first  visit  to  the  place,  and  the  scene  of  domestic  beauty  and 
bliss  over  which  Mrs.  Durham  then  presided  as  a  divin- 
ity, a  voluntary  exile  from  that  society  whose  laws  and  cus- 
toms were  so  fatal  to  her  happiness.  But  there  was  no  hiding 
from  the  demon.  It  had  pursued  her  even  in  exile ;  and 
here,  even  here,  so  far  away  from  neighbors,  so  hid  from  civil 
society,  that  society  had  pursued  her  with  its  ruinous  legisla- 
tion, and  consigned  her  and  her  beloved  family  to  one  common 
grave.  He  walked  a  little  beyond  the  house  into  a  beautiful 
grove  of  young  maples,  and  there  he  found  the  new-made 
grave  surmounted  by  a  white  marble  slab,  erected  by  the  con- 
tributions of  the  people,  and  inscribed  as  follows  : 
11 


122  MAPLETON;    OK, 

"  CHARLES  DURHAM  and  his  Wife. 

AMELIA  DURHAM  and  their  Four  Children. 

AMELIA  CAROLINE. 

LYDIA  DOUGLASS. 

CHARLES,  Junior,  and 

BENONI. 

All  victims  of  the  traffic  in  alcoholic  poisons." 
Underneath  Charles  wrote,  "  MURDERED  BY  UNRIGHTEOUS 
LEGISLATION." 

Young  Douglass  lingered  long  in  this  grove,  weeping  bit- 
ter tears  over  the  associations  of  the  place.  He  thought  of 
the  buoyant,  girlish  days  of  Mrs.  Durham,  when  she  Avas  the 
hope  of  her  family,  the  belle  and  pride  of  her  town ;  and 
also  of  the  fatal  steps  which  led  to  her  marriage  with  one  so 
noble  in  character,  and  yet  so  hopelessly  doomed  by  a  predis- 
position to  vice  inherited  from  the  drinking  habits  of  a  former 
generation,  and  by  the  gins  and  snares  provided  by  state  leg- 
islation to  insure  his  ruin.  And  these  dear  little  ones,  whose 
only  crime  was  to  be  born  of  such  a  father  and  under  such  laws, 
thus  given  over  to  a  mode  of  death  which,  to  think  of,  makes 
the  blood  curdle  with  horror !  0,  God  !  how  mysterious  arc 
thy  providences,  and  thy  ways  past  finding  out !  He  thought 
of  the  constant  peril  in  which  his  own  family  lived  from  the  same 
cause, —  a  peril  which,  though  just  then  somewhat  diminished 
by  mob  right  against  legal  and  organic  wrong,  yet  which  would 
return  upon  them,  perhaps,  with  more  fearful  results  than  ever, 
as  soon  as  some  licensed  emissary  of  the  state  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  renew  among  them  the  cruel  traffic.  He  was 
affected  by  the  evidence  furnished  that  the  last  rational 
thoughts  of  poor  Mrs.  Durham  were  directed  to  himself. 
The  answer  of  his  letter,  begun  in  a  sound  mind,  but  ending 
in  distraction,  to  be  followed  by  convulsions  and  the  pains 


MOEE   -WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  123 

of  child-birth,  endured  all  alone,  and  terminating  in  her 
own  death  and  that  of  all  her  family, —  this  seemed  to 
Charles  too  dreadful  to  think  of.  He  spent  days  in  weeping 
over  the  fate  of  the  family.  Nor  was  he  alone  in  this.  The 
whole  town  and  country  manifested  the  liveliest  sensibilities 
on  the  subject ;  and  for  a  time  it  produced  almost  a  total 
suspension  of  those  drinking  habits  which  had  caused  all  the 
trouble.  Indeed,  the  temptation  to  drinking  had,  to  a  great 
extent,  perished  with  the  groggery.  The  poison  was  not  now 
obtruded  upon  them  as  before,  and  the  families  which  had  sur- 
vived the  wreck  returned  to  their  occupations,  and  were  pros- 
perous again.  Mr.  Littlefield's  meetings  were  fuller,  and  his 
labors  better  appreciated.  The  children  returned  to  the  neg- 
lected Sunday-school.  The  memory  of  their  former  teacher 
—  the  good  and  beautiful,  but  now  so  sadly  unfortunate,  Mrs. 
Durham — lived  in  their  minds  as  a  sweet  relic  of  the  past,  to 
awaken  in  them  bitter  regrets  at  their  own  defection,  which 
had  been  to  her  a  cause  of  so  much  anxiety. 

Charles  found  his  father  wonderfully  altered  in  appear- 
ance. His  long-continued  course  of  dissipation  after  that  first 
fatal  night,  and,  most  of  all,  his  share  in  the  sad  catastrophe 
of  the  Durham  family,  preyed  upon  his  mind,  and  he  rarely 
ever  smiled.  His  downfall  had  deprived  him  of  the  high 
position  which  he  had  enjoyed  in  town,  and  made  him  an 
object  of  loathing  to  himself.  Mrs.  Douglass  and  Charles 
did  all  they  could  to  reassure  him.  They  saw,  they  felt,  that 
the  evil  of  his  case  did  not  so  much  consist  in  his  present 
occasional  aberrations,  as  in  those  habits  of  what  is  called 
temperate  drinking,  wherein  the  appetite  originated  which 
was  now  so  uncontrollable.  That  in  which  the  wrong  really 
lay  had  made  him  respectable,  a  boon  companion,  a  fine  gen- 
tleman, whose  society  was  courted,  and  who  was  deemed 


124  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

every  way  worthy  of  respect  and  confidence.  But  the  con- 
sequences, wherein  he  was  comparatively  innocent,  and  more 
to  be  pitied  than  blamed,  caused  him  to  be  despised  and 
abhorred.  His  wife  and  son  took  more  just  views  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  never  remitted  their  kindness  to  him,  even  when 
most  deteriorated  and  degraded.  They  felt  and  deplored  the 
wreck  of  a  husband  and  father  which  the  drinking  customs 
of  society  had  entailed  upon  them.  But,  inasmuch  as  this 
was  their  unhappy  lot,  in  common  with  thousands  of  other 
families,  they  felt  it  a  call  in  Providence  to  watch  over  him, 
to  bear  with  his  infirmities,  to  alleviate  his  sufferings,  to  for- 
tify him,  against  temptation,  and  to  do  their  utmost  to  repair 
the  evil  which  society  and  the  laws  had  done  upon  one  in 
whom  they  had  so  tender  an  interest.  This  was  right. 
There  is  nothing  left  to  the  unhappy  victims  of  the  drinking 
customs  and  license  laws  of  society  but  to  bide  their  time, 
while  they  pray,  with  the  souls  under  the  altar,  "  How  long, 
0  Lord,  holy  and  true,  dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our 
blood  on  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth  !  " 

The  person  of  Charles,  during  his  years  of  absence,  had 
grown  into  manly  proportions,  with  a  head  that  bore  marks 
of  a  vigorous  intellect,  a  countenance  of  fine  expression,  and 
an  eye  through  which  flashed  the  fire  of  his  soul.  The 
reserve  of  manhood  had  succeeded  to  the  loquacity  of  youth, 
and  he  was  now  demure  and  taciturn,  especially  on  all  sub- 
jects relating  to  himself  and  his  future  course.  He  courted 
retirement,  and  spent  much  of  the  year  of  his  stay  at  home 
in  his  old  study,  extending  his  reading  and  investigations  on 
various  subjects ;  and  what  time  he  was  not  there  he  was  out 
among  the  groves,  hills  and  ravines,  of  his  beloved  Mapleton. 
All  the  places  endeared  to  him  by  recollection  he  visited 
over  and  over  again ;  —  Forest  Point,  where  Tooney  was 


MORE  WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE  LAW.  125 

exhumed ;  the  ruined  house  \vhich  the  Harcourts  had  occupied 
during  their  short  stay  in  town,  thinking  of  little  Sarah,  of 
•whom  he  had  never  heard  since  their  departure,  and  dwelling 
fondly  on  the  associations  of  days  now  departed  never  more  to 
return.  To  him  it  was  enchanted  ground.  Occasionally  he 
would  enter  the  circle  of  former  friends,  but  always  with  a 
brow  clouded  by  care,  and  a  look  of  anxious  thoughtfulness. 
The  part  he  took  in  conversation  appeared  to  cost  him  an 
effort,  and  he  contrived  to  elude  inquiry  in  reference  to  his 
own  purposes  or  prospects.  He  was  deeply  meditating  his 
future  plans  in  life. 

Thus  time  passed  till  the  second  autumn  after  his  return 
home,  when  he  gave  his  parents  to  understand  that  he  should 
adhere  to  a  secret  but  long-cherished  purpose  of  entering  the 
ministry.  Unpropitious  as  he  felt  his  relations  to  be  as  the 
son  of  a  drunkard,  and  galling  as  that  thought  was  to  his 
towering  spirit, —  a  thought  which  had  done  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  keep  him  back  so  long, —  still,  the  obligations 
to  the  ministerial  calling  had  so  wrought  themselves  into  his 
convictions,  that  he  could  frame  to  himself  no  sufficient  excuse 
for  turning  to  a  secular  occupation.  Messrs.  Holliston  and 
Littlefield  were  called  in  to  advise  as  to  what  steps  should  be 
taken  in  the  case.  The  former  gentleman  advised  that,  with 
the  approval  of  his  church,  Charles  should  betake  himself  at 
once  to  some  retired  place,  and  there  exercise  his  talents  in 
teaching  the  people  religion,  in  visiting  from  house  to  house, 
in  promoting  schools,  and  otherwise  advancing  the  cause  of 
piety  and  intelligence.  He  said  "  that  a  professional  educa- 
tion for  such  a  calling  should  not  be  sought  till  the  heart  had 
been  fully  tested  and  the  ability  proved ;  that  the  haste  with 
which  young  men,  of  feeble  capacity  and  no  intelligent  obli- 
gation to  the  work,  had  of  late  years  been  placed  upon  a  course 
11* 


126  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

of  education  for  which  they  had  no  fitness,  had  filled  the  pul- 
pits with  a  mere  apology  of  men,  educated  asses  to  bray  non- 
sense by  rule ;  and  that  there  were  hundreds  of  uneducated 
farmers  and  mechanics,  whose  piety  and  talents  fitted  them  to 
go  directly  from  their  secular  occupations  into  the  pulpit,  and 
do  there  a  far  more  effective  work.  Even  ability,"  he  added, 
"is  no  guarantee  of  success  in  a  work  which  depends  so 
entirely  upon  a  certain  moral  and  spiritual  fitness,  which  no 
education  can  impart,  and  no  process  can  satisfactorily  ascer- 
tain but  that  of  actual  trial.  Besides,  there  is  no  training 
that  your  son  can  enjoy  which  promises  so  much  to  himself 
as  an  actual  contact  with  human  ignorance  and  misery,  with 
a  view  to  their  alleviation.  This,  if  anything,  will  school  a 
young  man's  heart  and  character,  to  act  as  the  cure  of  souls. 
Practice  makes  perfect." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Douglass  fully  concurred  in  these  views,  nor 
were  Mr.  Littlefield  and  his  church  backward  in  giving  their 
consent.  Forestdale  was  selected  as  the  scene  of  Charles' 
present  efforts.  The  people  were  exceedingly  destitute,  and 
he  opened  schools  among  them,  both  secular  and  Sabbath, 
and  expounded  to  them  the  word  of  God.  They  were  poor 
and  miserable,  and  therefore  the  more  readily  flocked  around 
him  as  their  spiritual  adviser.  To  a  young  man  for  year.-* 
accustomed  to  literary  society  and  pursuits,  the  seclusion  of 
a  hidden  and  unlettered  neighborhood  is  sombre  and  oppress- 
ive. Some  alleviation  may  be  found  from  books ;  or,  if  ho 
be  a  spiritual  man,  from  the  communion  of  devout  hearts. 
But  young  Douglass  had  not  gone  there  for  the  sake  of 
books ;  nor  was  his  mind  sufficiently  relieved  of  the  corroding 
anxieties  which  had  so  long  preyed  upon  him  and  his  family, 
to  be  happy  in  communion  either  with  himself,  his  fellow- 
men,  or  his  God.  He  had  no  power  to  resist  the  current  of 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  127 

unhappy  sensations,  which,  from  the  one  ever-present,  ever- 
corroding  idea  of  being  a  drunkard's  sou,  had  worn  for  itself 
a  channel  through  his  heart. 

Those  who  describe  the  red,  bloated  face,  the  watery  and 
inflamed  eye,  the  diseased  and  trembling  frame,  the  ruined  char- 
acter and  blighted  fortune,  of  the  drunkard  himself, —  or  even 
the  withered  plant  of  conjugal  love  in  the  bosom  of  his  wife,  or 
the  wretchedness  of  her  infant  group, —  as  evincing  the  w<  >rst 
evils  of  intemperance,  have  but  gross  and  imperfect  views  of 
the  subject.  It  is  after  this  group  have  grown  to  manhood, 
to  take  their  place  in  society  as  young  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
that  the  climax  of  the  damning  process  is  reached.  Then 
that  wife  feels  over  again  all  her  pangs,  with  added  strength, 
in  the  disgrace  of  her  children ;  while  they,  fluttering  for  a 
time  with  the  vain  endeavor  to  rise  above  the  domestic  infamy, 
too  often  settle  back  into  the  habits  of  the  father,  and  drown 
an  incurable  sorrow  in  the  maddening  cup  which  had  pro- 
duced it. 

These  feelings  of  disgrace  and  infamy,  at  being  a  drunkard's 
son,  acting  upon  a  soul  of  towering  ambition,  and  too  little 
disciplined  to  restraint  and  control,  made  the  bosom  of  young 
Douglass  more  desolate  than  any  hermit's  cell,  more  tem- 
pestuous than  a  chaotic  world.  He  rather  yielded  himself  to 
them,  and  found  a  dismal  pleasure  in  brooding  over  his  pains. 
He  spent  much  time  in  the  thickest  of  the  forests,  uttering 
ejaculations  of  anguish  and  woe,  and  struggling  for  relief, 
but  without  power  to  surmount  his  mind-consuming  grief. 
And,  when  kept  within  doors  by  the  howling  of  autumnal 
storms,  he  would  lie  prostrate,  hours  together,  upon  the  floor 
of  his  room,  wishing  for  death  as  the  end  of  a  disgraced  and 
burdened  life.  His  nerves  were  so  excited  and  enfeebled,  by 
the  severity  of  past  studies  and  conflicts,  and  by  a  morbid 


128  MAPLETON;  OR, 

sense  of  the  social  disadvantages  under  which  he  labored,  that 
he  could  not  sleep;  longing  for  a  fever,  or  some  organic 
disease,  to  interrupt  the  course  of  those  excruciating  thoughts, 
which  he  feared  would  otherwise  drive  him  to  madness. 
Though  he  continued  his  services  among  the  people  as  usual, 
so  that  they  saw  no  signs  of  the  fearful  tempest  raging  within, 
except  in  his  haggard  and  emaciated  looks,  of  which  they 
took  little  notice,  thinking  them  the  badges  of  his  profession; 
yet,  whenever  he  came  before  them,  it  was  with  a  sense  that 
they  were  all  thinking  "  there  comes  the  drunkard's  son," 
and  with  a  certainty  that  he  could  not  face  them  long  enough 
to  say  a  word.  Though  there  was  no  real  cause  for  all  this 
in  anything  said  or  thought  among  the  people,  yet  his  mind 
had  become  morbid  on  a  subject  which  had  so  long  corroded 
within,  and  there  was  no  such  thing  as  shaking  off  the 
incubus.  And,  indifferent  as  might  be  his  public  efforts,  it 
always  seemed  to  him  a  matter  of  surprise,  when  he  closed, 
that  he  had  done  as  well  as  he  had.  Speaking  had  the  effect, 
for  the  time  being,  of  diverting  his  mind  from  its  horrid 
ideas. 

He  became,  at  length,  convinced  that  he  must  either  sink 
into  nothing,  and  disappoint  the  hopes  of  his  friends,  or  else 
make  an  effort  to  dismiss  a  subject  which  had  taken  such  hold 
upon  him.  He  resolved  on  the  latter  course ;  bethinking  him- 
self that  no  blame  could  attach  to  him  on  account  of  his  father's 
habits,  and  that,  as  to  the  disgrace  brought  upon  him  as  a 
consequence  of  them,  that  might  prove  a  salutary  thorn  in 
the  flesh,  to  gain  the  ends  of  moral  discipline,  and  increase 
his  usefulness.  He  found  it  easier  to  think  this,  however, 
than  to  repair  the  breach  upon  his  mental  and  nervous  con- 
stitution which  had  been  already  inflicted.  As  a  curative 
process,  therefore,  he  resolved  upon  three  things :  first,  visit- 


MOEE    WORK    FOB    THE   MAINE   LAW.  129 

ing  the  afflicted,  and  doing  the  offices  of  humanity ;  second, 
taking  frequent  rides  on  horseback ;  and  third,  trusting  more 
implicitly  in  his  heavenly  Father,  for  the  management  of  his 
domestic  sorrow  and  all  its  consequences.  The  first  made 
him  familiar  with  those  who  had  far  greater  causes  of  sorrow, 
and  taught  him  reconciliation  by  the  contrast ;  the  second 
improved  his  health  and  spirits ;  and  the  third  shielded  him 
under  a  higher  power,  insomuch  that,  under  this  regimen,  his 
spirits  soon  began  to  acquire  tone,  his  feelings  elasticity,  and 
the  roses  of  youth  to  bloom  upon  his  cheek,  and  peace  and 
contentment  to  beam  in  his  eye.  The  happiness  he  conferred 
on  others  reacted  upon  himself,  and  he  found  in  the  im- 
proving condition  of  the  people  unmingled  satisfaction. 

Things  went  on  thus  till  late  in  October,  when,  the  day 
being  unusually  fine,  he  continued  his  morning  ride  full  ten 
miles  from  his  lodgings.  Here  the  country  dropped  down  to 
a  level  full  sixty  feet  lower,  to  which,  as  he  descended,  he 
saw  the  smoke  curling  up  among  the  tree-tops  on  his  right, 
while  directly  before  him  a  magnificent  plantation  opened 
upon  his  view.  The  smoke,  he  soon  saw,  came  from  a 
spacious  mansion,  with  piazzas  encircling  it,  and  an  observatory 
surmounting  the  top,  which  commanded  a  view  of  the  whole 
plain  in  which  the  plantation  was  located.  The  lanes,  fields, 
and  houses  of  the  tenantry,  were  arranged  with  reference  to 
the  mansion,  immediately  around  which  were  original  forest- 
trees  in  clusters,  with  cleared  spaces  between,  occupied 
by  lawns  and  gardens.  As  the  morning  was  mild  and  misty, 
the  smoke  from  the  houses  of  the  distant  tenantry  was  slowly 
rising,  circling  round  and  round  as  it  mingled  with  the  pen- 
dent clouds.  Flocks  of  sheep  and  herds  of  cattle  were 
performing  their  morning  gambols  over  the  rich  pastures 
which  extended  across  the  ample  circumference  of  the  plain. 


130  MAPLETON;    OR, 

Douglass  was  enraptured  at  the  view,  and,  midway  of  the 
declivity,  he  sat,  poised  in  his  saddle,  gazing  upon  this 
enchanting  picture  of  country  life. 

Fatigued  with  his  ride,  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation 
of  alighting  at  the  base  of  the  hill,  and  paying  his  respects 
to  the  family  at  the  mansion,  in  order  to  acquaint  himself 
more  fully  with  the  possessors  of  such  a  beautiful  domain. 
Fastening  his  horse  at  the  gate  which  opened  upon  the  lawn 
that  extended  back  to  the  mansion,  a  distance  of  about  fifteen 
rods,  he  walked  leisurely  along  between  rows  of  mast-trees, 
which  were  dropping  their  ripe  fruit  in  great  abundance.  As 
he  arrived  opposite  the  garden,  he  heard  the  soft  tones  of  a 
female  voice  saying,  "John,  be  careful,  man!  don't  break  my 
roots !  " 

"  Indade,  miss,  it  '11  pain  me  much  to  destroy  these  pretty 
flower-bearers,"  said  a  gruff  voice,  in  Hibernian  accent. 

"Charming!  excellent!"  added  the  female  voice.  "All 
safe  !  You  have  done  right  well,  my  good  fellow ;  not  a  root 
is  broken.  It  would  be  a  pity  not  to  use  well  what  adds  so 
much  beauty  to  our  home." 

"An'  faith,"  said  the  man,  "  I  'm  thinkin'  as  much." 

By  this  time  Charles  had  reached  a  point  to  see  the  actors 
in  this  dialogue,  who  he  found  to  be  a  laboring  man,  with  a 
basket  of  bulbous  roots,  and  a  young  lady,  who  seemed  to  be 
superintending  their  removal  to  a  place  of  safety  for  the 
winter.  The  lady,  in  a  neat  morning  dress  and  straw  hat, 
strongly  impressed  him  with  an  idea  of  extreme  beaut}', 
gentleness  and  serenity.  Her  complexion  was  so  clear,  her  eye 
so  soft  and  yet  so  brilliant,  her  form  so  sylph-like  and 
symmetrical,  her  expression  so  sweet  and  intelligent,  and 
her  movements  so  natural  and  graceful,  that  Douglass  stood 
entranced, —  more  charmed  by  the  tenant  than  he  had  been 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  131 

by  her  home.  At  that  instant  she  caught  his  eye,  and  he' 
nodded  a  respectful  "good-morning."  She  replied  by  a  slight 
inclination  of  the  head,  a  little  confused  at  his  unexpected 
appearance. 

"Excuse  this  interruption,  madam,"  said  Charles.  "In 
taking  a  morning  ride,  I  have  been  so  much  attracted  by  the 
uncommon  beauty  of  this  place,  that  I  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  a  nearer  inspection." 

"Sir,  you  are  quite  welcome  at  Terracegreen,"  said  the 
lady. 

"  Your  family  must  have  settled  here  at  an  early  period." 

"  No,  only  a  few  years  ago." 

"  But  how  should  it  be  possible  in  a  few  years  to  raise  a 
wilderness  to  such  a  pitch  of  cultivation?  " 

"  My  father,  sir,  had  tenants  on  the  farm  several  years 
before  we  occupied  it  ourselves  ;  and,  having  a  great  fondness 
for  rural  pursuits,  he  has  done  much  since  he  came  to 
beautify  the  place." 

' '  Your  father  must  be  a  man  of  taste.  I  see  on  this 
plantation  what,  I  confess,  has  before  occurred  to  me  as  a 
picture  of  imagination,  occasional  remnants  of  forest-trees  in 
clusters  over  the  cleared  parts,  to  diversify  the  scenery.  The 
axe,  as  a  general  thing,  you  know,  takes  all." 

"  My  father  took  the  idea  from  English  scenery.  He  was 
travelling  abroad  when  our  tenants  began  to  clear  the  farm, 
and  he  wrote,  ordering  them  to  leave  no  space  large  enough 
for  a  field  bare  of  these  shady  clusters." 

"  How  opportune  the  idea !  They  are  a  great  ornament 
to  the  place." 

"  They  are  more ;  they  relieve  the  heat  of  summer  to  our 
horses,  cattle  and  sheep," 


132  MAPLETON;    OR, 

"  To  be  sure,"  replied  Charles ;  "  and  they  are  entitled  to 
have  their  comfort  considered,  as  well  as  our  own." 

"Yes,  I  see  not  how  we  can  answer  it  to  our  consciences 
to  be  neglectful  of  them,  when  they  are  so  faithful  in  serving 
us.  Their  approach  to  us  is  far  nearer  than  ours  to  the 
supreme  Benefactor  on  whom  all  alike  depend." 

"  Such  sentiments  are  the  brightest  ornament  of  your  sex 
and  your  person,"  replied  Charles,  with  an  impulse  to  be 
complimentary  without  knowing  how. 

"  The  right  of  the  thing  is  more  to  me  than  the  ornament," 
she  said,  a  little  doubtful  as  to  the  motive  of  his  remark. 

"No  doubt,  no  doubt,"  added  Douglass,  blushing  with 
apprehension,  lest  he  had  too  freely  betrayed  his  admiration 
of.  her  person. 

"Will  you  please  walk  in,  sir?  "  she  said,  moving  towards 
the  house. 

"  I  thank  you,"  said  Charles,  following  ;  "  I  am  too  much 
charmed  by  the  place  and  its  occupant  to  refuse  such  a 
request." 

"  Compliments  are  cheap  things,"  she  added,  still  doubtful 
•whether  he  was  in  earnest. 

"You  mistake,  if  you  think  me  capable  of  using  them 
insincerely.  What  I  fe*el  I  speak.  Pardon  the  freedom  in  a 
stranger." 

"  Never  mind,"  she  replied,  stepping  upon  the  balcony, 
where  they  were  met  by  the  melodious  notes  of  a  canary. 
"  Tiny,  sweet  Tiny  !  how  soft  and  cheerful  is  your  morning 
song!  You  are  happy, —  happy,  and  love  to  make  us  so." 

"  You  are  fond  of  birds?  " 

"  Who  is  not  fond  of  birds  ?  " 

"  Did  it  never  strike  you  as  cruel  to  deprive  them  of 
liberty?" 


MORE   WORK   FOR    THE    MAINE   LAW.  133 

"  Perhaps  so,"  said  she  thoughtfully.  "Still,  habit  makes 
confinement  second  nature  to  them,  and  I  believe  my  Tiny  as 
happy  as  any  bird  in  his  native  forest ;  "  to  which  the  bird 
seemed  to  assent  by  pouring  forth  one  of  his  most  joyous 
strains. 

"If  he  is  not,  it  will  not  be  for  lack  of  an  attentive 
mistress." 

"  True,  I  could  not  neglect  him.  It  would  be  an  ungrate- 
ful return  for  the  pleasure  he  affords.  Be  seated,  sir,"  said 
she,  showing  him  into  the  parlor. 

"  No,  no.  I  must  return;   I  have  already  exceeded  my  time." 

"  Sir,  we  cannot  consent  to  your  leaving  so  abruptly.  Our 
breakfast  is  this  moment  on  the  table.  I  will  call  papa ;  he 
will  be  happy  to  speak  with  you." 

With  that  she  ran  to  call  her  father,  while  Douglass 
glanced  around  the  room  in  which  he  was  seated,  and  was 
struck  with  the  air  of  neatness,  simplicity  and  elegance, 
which  seemed  to  preside  over  all  he  saw.  In  a  few  moments 
she  returned,  with  evident  discomposure  at  learning  that  her 
father  had  been  called  out  on  public  business,  and  would  not 
breakfast  at  home  that  morning. 

"I  am  surprised  to  find  myself  deserted  by  my  father," 
she  said,  upon  returning;  "he  has  left  me  to  breakfast 
alone." 

"  I  think,  my  kind  hostess,  you  must  now  excuse  me;  and, 
with  your  leave,  I  will  call  again,  and  make  the  acquaintance 
of  a  father  whose  daughter  has  inspired  me  with  so  many 
sentiments  of  gratitude." 

"  Gratitude  !  no,  if  you  do  not  breakfast  with  me." 

"  Well,  since  you  insist  upon  it,  I  must  yield." 

The  breakfast-bell  now  rang,  and,  rising,  she  conducted  him 
to  the  breakfast-room.  Douglass  was  surprised  to  find  no 
12 


134  MAPLETON;    OE, 

one  at  the  table  but  the  young  lady  and  himself,  and  re- 
marked, "  Your  family  is  small." 

"There  are  none  in  it  but  my  father,  myself  and  the 
servants." 

"  No  mother?" 

"  My  blessed  mother  went  to  another  and  better  -world 
•when  I  -was  a  child,  and  my  little  brother  died  about  the 
same  time." 

"  Indeed,  and  not  lonely?  " 

"No;  habit  has  taught  me  to  find  company  in  myself, 
—  not  the  best,  it  is  true,  but  such  as  I  contrive  to  recon- 
cile myself  to." 

"  I  should  doubt  whether  you  could  find  better,"  said 
Douglass. 

"You  seem  determined  to  flatter  me,"  said  the  young 
lady  ;  "but  what  do  you  think  of  my  father,  who  has  been 
here  entirely  by  himself  during  the  years  of  my  absence  at 
school?" 

"  I  am  no  flatterer,"  replied  Charles  ;  "but,  if  this  were 
my  house,  and  I  your  father,  it  would  require  more  philoso- 
phy than  I  have  to  endure  the  absence  of  such  as  you  are  in 
my  view."- 

She  blushed  at  this  speech,  and  even  Charles  was  confused ; 
for  his  language  never  before  took  a  complimentary  turn  toward 
a  young  lady.  But  his  character  partook  too  much  of  sim- 
plicity and  impulse  to  admit  of  his  disguising  his  feelings. 
Besides,  the  freedom  of  conversation  on  both  sides  arose  from 
a  sort  of  home-feeling  between  them, —  from  a  secret  im- 
pression of  previous  acquaintance.  The  cases  are  not 
infrequent  in  which  a  familiarity  at  once  arises  between  those 
who  are  linked  by  no  tie  of  recollection,  because  the  heart's 
facility  of  reviving  former  impressions  is  greater  than  the 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       135 

mind's  power  of  tracing  the  continuity  of  its  ideas.  This 
illusion  is  sometimes  produced  by  the  similarity  of  the  new 
acquaintance  to  an  old  and  tried  friend,  leading  strangers 
upon  a  first  meeting  to  glide  into  a  familiarity  at  which  they 
themselves  are  surprised.  There  may  also  exist  between 
persons  in  nature  such  a  fitness  of  taste  as  to  lead  to  this 
result,  in  spite  of  calculation  and  endeavor  to  maintain  greater 
reserve.  Love  at  first  sight  is  by  no  means  impossible. 

Breakfast  concluded,  Charles,  about  to  take  his  leave, 
remarked,  ' '  When  shall  I  have  the  pleasure  of  another  such 
entertainment?" 

"I  was  about  to  ask  you  to  call  and  make  my  father's 
acquaintance,  but  —  but  —  " 

"  0,  I  see;  my  promptitude  in  forestalling  your  invitation 
embarrasses  you.  I  ask  to  come  for  your  sake,  and  you  was 
about  to  invite  me  for  your  father's  sake.  Perhaps  some 
third  person  might  interfere  with  my  'request,  but  none  can 
object  to  yours." 

"It  is  enough  that  the  parties  directly  concerned  are 
satisfied,"  she  replied  ;  "let  others  take  care  of  themselves. 
When  will  you  come  to  see  both  my  father  and  me,  if  you 
please?" 

Taking  out  his  memorandum-book,  Douglass  looked  a 
moment  along  the  line  of  his  engagements,  saying,  or  rather 
thinking  abstractedly,  "This  is  Monday;  well,  Thursday, — 
Thursday  is  a  great  way  off, —  will  Thursday  morning  please 
you?" 

"Yes,  if  you  will  arrange  to  pass  the  day  with  us." 

"  A  day  !  Would  it  were  a  week,  in  such  an  Eden,  with 
such  an  Eve  !  " 

"  0,  you  mock  me  by  your  flattery  !  " 

"You  will  never  say  that,  when-you  are  better  acquainted 


136  MAPLETON;  OR, 

with  me ;  so  I  must  trust  to  my  future  good  behavior  to 
redeem  my  character.  Good-morning." 
.  "  Good-morning,"  she  replied,  with  an  expression  of 
simplicity  and  innocence  that  would  have  given  him  pleasure, 
but  for  the  feeling  which  it  awakened  of  the  gulf  that  existed 
between  him,  a  drunkard's  son,  and  one  of  a  character  and 
associations  which  seemed  to  him  so  far  above  his  own.  The 
disadvantages  of  such  a  relationship  are  never  so  keenly  felt 
as  when  they  come  in  to  crush  the  heart's  fondest  hopes  and 
aspirations.  We  can  endure  its  poverty,  the  scorn  and 
neglect  of  society  on  its  account,  and  almost  any  other  of 
the  accruing  disadvantages,  better  than  the  barriers  which  it 
interposes  to  an  affair  of  the  heart. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   INIQUITY   OF  A   FATHER  VISITED   UPON   HIS   SON. 

"  My  spirits,  as  in  a  dream,  are  all  fcound  up. 
My  father's  loss,  the  weakness  which  I  feel, 
The  wreck  of  all  my  friends,  or  this  man's  threats 
To  whom  I  am  subdued,  are  but  light  to  me, 
Might  I  but  through  my  prison  once  a  day 
Behold  this  maid."  —  SHAKSPEARE. 

THE  impression  of  previous  acquaintance,  which  was  the 
real  cause  of  the  freedom  of  the  foregoing  interview  between 
Charles  Douglass  and  the  young  lady  therein  introduced  to  the 
reader,  existed  in  both  their  minds  as  the  relic  of  a  forgotten 
dream.  But,  with  all  their  efforts,  they  could  not  revive  the  re- 
collection of  each  other.  A  mysterious  enchantment  hung 
round  this  new  acquaintance  in  the  mind  of  Douglass,  and  he 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  137 

would  sit  musing  for  hours  together,  like  a  man  upon  -whom 
some  half-formed  conception  of  future  good  has  begun  to  dawn, 
and  he  dwells  upon  it  continually,  lest  the  fugitive  idea  should 
escape,  and  merge  him  in  his  former  darkness.  When  Thursday 
came,  he  was  up  earlier  than  usual,  and  mounted  his  horse 
with  more  than  his  wonted  elasticity.  Even  the  noble  horse 
seemed  to  partake  of  his  enthusiasm, —  prancing  and  neighing, 
and  looking  wistfully  in  the  direction  of  the  plantation.  A 
servant  was  in  waiting  at  the  gate  to  conduct  him  to  the  man- 
sion ;  and,  as  Douglass  advanced  up  the  lawn,  he  was  more 
than  ever  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  place.  The  rocky 
defile  along  the  north  of  the  house  seemed  to  render  it  im- 
pregnable against  wintry  winds,  imparting  to  the  whole  an 
aspect  of  snug  comfort,  peculiarly  propitious  to  a  Northern 
imagination;  while  the  expanding  plain  that  opened  to  the 
south  was  beautifully  diversified  with  groves,  meadows,  broad 
acres  of  green  and  luxuriant  wheat,  and  all  the  charms  of  a 
highly-cultivated  plantation.  His  horse  he  delivered  to  the 
man  in  waiting,  and,  being  promptly  answered  at  the  door, 
was  soon  seated  in  the  parlor.  As  the  daughter  had  no  means 
of  introducing  her  guest,  she  thought  it  prudent  to  send  her 
father  to  reconnoitre,  who  accosted  Douglass  with  "  Sir,  good- 
morning;  be  seated,  sir." 

"Good-morning,"  rejoined  Douglass.  "I  was  so  much 
struck  with  the  beauty  of  your  plantation,  the  other  day,  that 
I  begged  of  your  daughter  the  privilege  of  making  the 
acquaintance  of  its  owner." 

"Our  house  is  always  open  to  those  who  deserve  our 
respect." 

"In  the  absence  of  such  desert,  I  could  not  hope  to  com- 
mand respect  from  a  gentleman  of  your  discernment." 

"I  harbor  no  suspicions, —  you  are  welcome,"  added  the 
12* 


138  MAPLETON;    OR, 

host,  at  the  same  time  casting  upon  his  guest  a  searching 
look ;  and,  detecting  the  scar  left  by  the  deer  on  Charles' 
temple,  he  exclaimed,  "  Bless  me !  is  this  you,  Charles 
Douglass?" 

{:  That  is  my  name,  sir ;  but  pray  how  should  you  know 
me?" 

"  Was  you  not  struck  senseless,  some  years  since,  by  the 
blow  of  a  deer  on  your  temple  ?  " 

"  I  was." 

"Well,  have  you  forgotten  the  agency  which  one  Har- 
court  and  his  daughter  had,  on  that  occasion? '' 

"  No,  I  can  never  forget  it !     And  you  are  that  person?  " 

"  The  same.  I  should  have  known  more  of  you,  and  your 
family,  but  that  I  was  called  to  attend  to  the  building  of  this 
house.-  I  believe  you  saw  more  of  my  daughter." 

"  Mr.  Harcourt,  you  are  greatly  changed  in  appearance, — 
much  more  corpulent, —  and  I  should  not  have  mistrusted  the 
identity.  I  felt  that  I  knew  your  daughter ;  but  she  was  then 
a  child  and  is  now  a  woman,  and  I  could  not  quite  recall  her. 
Your  man  John,  too,  I  thought  I  had  seen ;  but  Irish 
laborers  are  so  much  alike  I  can  never  tell  them  apart.  I 
have  been  in  a  maze  ever  since  I  was  here  the  other  day.  but 
now  all  is  plain.  I  owe  my  life,  sir,  to  you  and  Canaudeh." 

"  Canaudeh  !  yes,  that 's  a  noble  Indian.  I  suppose  you 
know  that  I  have  him  here  on  my  farm?  " 

"  Canaudeh  here  !  I  thought  he  was  at  Green  Bay.  What 
providence  has  brought  him  here?" 

"He  did  emigrate,  but  longed  so  much  for  the  country  of 
his  fathers'  sepulchres,  that  last  spring  he  returned,  and  was 
lingering  about  in  the  woods  of  this  neighborhood  like  a  man 
among  the  tombs,  obtaining  a  precarious  subsistence  by  hunt- 
ing. I  pitied  him,  and,  at  the  suggestion  of  my  daughter, 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW..  139 

offered  him  a  home  on  my  plantation,  and  a  supply  from  my 
table.  And  he  has  accepted  it, —  at  least,  so  much  of  the 
time  as  he  does  not  give  to  hunting." 

"  Has  he  learned  to  talk  English  yet  ?  " 

"  He  rarely  attempts  it,  though  he  understands  much  that 
is  said  to  him.  My  daughter,  who  has  come  to  be  of  a  pious 
turn  of  mind,  and  visits  him  every  week  to  talk  her  doubtful 
notions  in  his  ear,  thinks  he  understands  all.  But  I  doubt 
it ;  for  it  is  more  than  I  can  do."  • 

"Then  he  has  maintained  his  pledge,  I  suppose?"  said 
Charles. 

"  What  pledge  ?"  inquired  Harcourt,  with  a  sneer  which 
indicated  that  he  knew  without  asking. 

"  The  pledge  of  total  abstinence.  Have  you  not  heard  the 
story?" 

"  No,  no  !  "  said  Harcourt  indignantly.  "  I  did  not  think 
Canaudeh  such  a  confounded  fool  as  to  sell  his  freedom  to 
these  cursed  fanatics." 

"  Fool  or  no  fool,  it  saved  him  from  the  fate  of  his  tribe. 
Every  man,  woman  and  child  of  them  had  died  of  drunken- 
ness, directly  or  indirectly;  and  the  old  chief  was  rapidly 
going  the  same  way,  when  he  saw  the  evil,  and  came  under  a 
solemn  pledge  never  to  drink  another  drop  that  intoxicates, 
though  there  was  at  the  time  little  hope  that  he  would  keep  it." 

"  That  explains  the  old  ninny's  conduct  the  other  day. 
I  said  to  him,  '  Canaudeh,  this  beer  is  excellent ;  will 
you  taste  it?'  when  he  stared,  and  at  length  said,  in  his 
broken  way,  l  You  me  not  know  ;  fire-water  devil,  drink  and 
Indian  make  mad.  Me  know  Indian  well.  Taste  beer,  then 
taste  rum.  then  get  drunk,  then  fight  and  kill,  then  in  street 
lie  and  get  sick,  then  die.'  Then  he  added,  with  tears,  '  My 
fathers,  my  brothers,  ugh,  ugh  ! ' — which  means  something 


140  MAPLETON;    OR, 

beyond  my  depth. — {  No  give  Indian  drink  no  more  ! '  1 
thought  it  queer,  but  did  not  understand  it  before." 

"  I  think  you  will  now  confess  him  a  wise  man." 

"  No,  he  is  a  fool,  and  so  is  any  man  who  has  not  self- 
command  enough  to  drink  without  drinking  to  his  injury." 

"  Is  your  daughter  at  home?  "  inquired  Douglass,  desiring 
to  change  the  subject,  and  avoid  all  seeming  rudeness  to  a  man 
in  his  own  house. 

"Go,  call  your  mistress,"  said  Harcourt  to  a  servant  in 
waiting.  Miss  Harcourt  soon  appeared,  and  the  young  couple 
were  formally  introduced  by  the  father.  A  feeling  of  natural 
embarrassment  came  over  them  at  meeting  as  gentleman  and 
lady,  who  had  previously  known  each  other  only  as  children. 

"  My  little  friend,  as  I  used  to  call  you,"  said  Charles, 
"  how  little  did  I  suspect,  the  other  morning,  that  I  was  break- 
fasting with  you !  " 

"And  I  was  as  much  in  the  dark  as  yourself,  though,  I 
confess,  a  mysterious  impression  of  previous  acquaintance 
lingered  round  my  mind." 

"  So  I  felt,  and  have  taxed  my  brain  not  a  little  to 
identify  you.  And  Canaudeh  too  here, —  how  strange  !  " 

"  Yes,  Canaudeh,  and  no  more  the  bloody  warrior,  but  the 
true  Christian." 

"  That  favorite  idea  of  yours,  my  daughter,  is  harmless, 
whatever  may  be  said  of  its  truth." 

"You  do  not  deem  it  impossible,  Mr.  Harcourt?"  said 
Charles. 

"  I  am  no  judge  in  such  matters.  I  leave  those  to  deter- 
mine them  who  can.  I  only  say  I  cannot,  and  I  am  no 
hypocrite." 

"  Do  you  not  remember  Samuel  Gilfort?"  inquired  Miss 
Harcourt. 


MORE  WOHK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       141 

"  Yes,  as  great  a  cheat  as  ever  lived.     So  think  the  Maple- 
ton  people,"  said  Charles. 

"  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  "  said  Harcourt. 

"  Perfectly  sure;  as  sure  as  a  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits." 

"  Well,  he  has  made  a  great  figure  in  the  world,"  said 
Miss  Harcourt. 

"  And  seems  very  much  improved,"  added  her  father. 

"  What !  have  you  any  direct  intelligence  of  him,  of  late  1 " 
inquired  Douglass. 

"I?     Yes,"  said  Harcourt ;   "I  meet  him  daily." 

"What!  in  this  neighborhood  ?"  inquired  Douglass,  with 
surprise. 

"Yes,  in  this  neighborhood,  and  several  times  in  this 
house." 

"  Is  it  possible, —  Samuel  Gilfort  in  this  neighborhood,  and 
in  this  house  recently !  Where  are  his  colony,  his  cosmopolis, 
his  palace,  and  the  possessions  he  is  said  to  have  acquired  in 
the  far  West?" 

"  0,  I  learn  he  has  left  them  in  a  prosperous  way,  for  the 
purpose  of  relieving  himself  from  the  weight  of  his  great 
affairs.  Princes  find  it  necessary  to  rusticate,  to  recruit  their 
exhausted  energies,"  added  Harcourt,  laughing.  "Is  it  not 
wonderful  that  be  should  have  the  control  of  twenty  thousand 
hands  in  building  his  seat  of  empire  ?  " 

"Wonderful,  if  true,"  said  Douglass.  "  I  do  not  believe 
he  has  half  that  number.  Stories  magnify,  like  flocks  of 
pigeons,  with  the  extent  of  their  flight.  Pray  how  does  he 
appear?" 

"  Like  a  gentleman, —  that  he  does,"  said  Harcourt.  "  Two 
or  three  servants,  apostles,  or  secretaries,  attend  him.  His 
person  has  grown  into  graceful  proportions,  and  his  carriage 


142  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

is  manly  and  dignified.  They  even  talk  of  him  for  our  next 
President." 

"  Our  next  President ! "  said  Douglass,  with  a  sneer. 
"  Talk  of  Lucifer  as  well !  Does  he  drink  as  much  as  ever  1 " 

"He  is  no  drunkard,  sir;  he  is  always  himself;  he  can 
stand  as  much  as  Alexander  the  Great,  or  any  of  his  court. 
I  think  the  more  of  him  for  that." 

"Dear  father,"  said  Sarah,  "how  can  you  speak  so? 
Dress,  equipage  and  good  living,  have  taken  off  the  rough 
edges  of  his  appearance ;  but  he  has  the  same  snaky  eyes, 
and  the  same  sinister  look,  as  ever ;  and  to  me  he  seems  more 
hateful  than  formerly  in  his  poverty,  because  I  am  thinking 
of  the  frauds  by  which  he  has  raised  himself  to  his  bad  emi- 
nence ;  and  because  strong  drink  does  not  produce  in  him  the 
same  degraded  exterior  as  in  some  others,  it  does  not  prove 
that  its  moral  or  inward  effects  are  any  the  less  abhorrent." 

"  But  what  are  the  peculiar  principles  on  which  he  has 
gathered  his  colonists  around  him  ?  "  inquired  Douglass. 

"  They  are  a  sort  of  mongrel  combination  of  politics  and 
religion.  The  first  article  is:  Samuel  Gilfort,  the  great  light 
of  the  universe.  This  makes  all  others  satellites,  to  revolve 
around  him  and  do  his  bidding.  Then,  you  have  only  to 
picture  to  yourself  the  course  such  a  will  as  Gilfort's  would 
be  likely  to  take,  in  filling  up  the  outlines  of  his  creed,  to 
understand  the  whole.  That  he  has  the  right  to  control  every 
man's  purse  would  naturally  stand  second.  The  rest  is  made 
up  of  a  doggerel  litany,  hypocritical  cant,  and  a  round  of  cere- 
monies, in  the  formation  of  which  Moses  and  Solon,  Jesus 
and  Voltaire,  the  Pope  and  Mahomet,  Washington  and  Bene- 
dict Arnold,  have  lent  their  appropriate  share  of  influence.  It 
takes  all  kinds  of  bait  to  catch  all  kinds  of  fish.  The  more 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        143 

contradictory  the  compound,  the  more  captivating  to  the  mul- 
titude who  are  born  to  be  the  dupes  of  the  designing." 

"  But  perhaps  he  hopes  by  his  visits  to  you  to  make  a  con- 
vert," said  Douglass,  laughing. 

"  No,  not  of  me,  but  of  Sarah.  Me  he  knows  to  be  incor- 
rigible ;  but  my  pretty  daughter,  as  he  calls  her,  he  supposes 
more  susceptible  in  such  matters." 

"  Father,  how  can  you  speak  of  me  in  such  an  odious  con- 
nection?" said  Sarah,  with  an  expression  of  injured  feeling. 

"  Think  not,  my  daughter,"  said  Harcourt,  with  genuine 
tenderness,  "  that  I  am  representing  you,  but  him  of  whom 
Mr.  Douglass  is  so  curious  to  learn.  His  vile  schemes,  I  know, 
can  never  touch  you  otherwise  than  with  disgust."  Breakfast 
was  now  announced,  and  Sarah,  taking  her  father's  arm,  led 
him  aside,  to  request  that  he  should  ask  their  visitor  to  say 
grace,  as  she  knew,  by  a  woman's  instinct,  that  he  must  be  a 
clergyman,  in  fact  or  in  prospect. 

"How  do  you  know  there  is  any  grace  in  him?"  said 
Harcourt,  facetiously. 

"Papa,  you  know  how  I  delight  to  please  you,  and  do 
gratify  me  in  this  !  " 

"  Certainly,  my  daughter,  you  shall  be  gratified."  Accord- 
ingly the  service  was  politely  requested,  and  as  promptly  per- 
formed. Though  Harcourt  was  an  avowed  infidel,  yet  it  was 
his  study  and  his  life  to  please  his  daughter,  whose  position 
was  directly  the  opposite  of  his  own  in  this  respect.  No 
father  could  be  more  affectionate  or  assiduous. 

"  I  admire  your  selection  of  a  place  for  building,"  said 
Douglass.  "It  is  not  uncommon  for  farmers  to  perch  their 
houses  on  the  bleak  point  of  the  hills,  where  the  winds  do 
battle  upon  all  that  comes  in  their  way.  I  confess  the  sight 
of  such  domiciles  freezes  me,  even  in  the  heat  of  summer.  I 


144  MAPLETON;    OR, 

choose  to  be  hid,  as  you  are,  under  this  rocky  defile,  from  those 
aerial  enemies  which  attack  us  so  fiercely  in  this  climate." 

"It  is  true,  sir,  I  have  more  respect  for  the  gods  of  the 
air,  Boreas,  Notus  and  the  like,  than  for  all  the  saints  in  the 
calendar.  I  have  made  it  the  study  of  my  life  to  guard 
against  these  princes  of  the  air,  by  whom  my  fences  are 
sometimes  shattered,  and  my  fields  laid  waste." 

"  Well,  you  have  been  fortunate  in  locating  your  castle." 

"  Our  ideas  of  comfort,"  said  Miss  Harcourt,  "  take  their 
cast  from  the  climate  in  which  we  live.  At  the  South,  their 
houses  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  places  of  protection  against 
anything  but  sunbeams." 

"Yes,  they  want  air;  we  want  protection  against  wind 
and  cold,"  said  Douglass.  "  Perhaps  our  confinement  may 
be  more  favorable  to  civilization,  though  I  confess  I  often 
sigh  for  the  velvet  atmosphere  of  those  more  voluptuous  cli- 
mates. We  have  retirement  and  reading,  however,  to  com- 
pensate our  lack  of  the  freedom  of  out-door  life ;  and,  upon 
the  whole,  our  condition  is  most  favorable." 

"  So  we  think;  and  so  thinks  the  Esquimaux,  who  wraps 
himself  in  furs,  and  resorts  to  the  snowy  caverns  of  his 
native  land,  to  spend  his  six  months'  winter  on  oil  and  seal's 
flesh,  thanking  his  gods  for  a  country  so  superior  to  all  oth- 
ers," said  Harcourt. 

"  Custom  has,  indeed,  much  to  do  with  our  predilections," 
replied  Douglass.  "  Still,  no  one  can  doubt  that  temperate 
climates  have  greater  advantages  for  individual  and  social 
elevation  than  any  other.  Facts  are  independent  of  local 
prejudices.  The  things  which  really  ennoble  mankind  are 
found  for  the  most  part  with  us." 

"  How,  then,  should  Egypt,  the  warmest  and  most  insalu- 
brious country  in  the  world,  have  been  the  cradle  of  European 


MOKE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       145 

civilization?"  said  Harcourt.  "  Its  colonists  converted  the 
Greeks  from  swine  to  men,  and  from  living  on  acorns  to  quaff 
the  generous  cup  and  drink  the  flowing  bowl." 

"Do  you  think  the  old  Egyptians  wine-bibbers?"  in- 
quired Charles. 

"They  must  have  been,  or  they  could  not  have  been  an 
elevated  people,'*  said  Harcourt.  "Where  did  refinement 
of  sentiment  ever  grow  up  without  wine?" 

"  I  remember,"  said  Douglass,  "  the  picture  of  a  drunken 
man  among  the  paintings  or  hieroglyphics  of  ancient  Egypt, 
but  never  till  now  heard  it  mentioned  as  an  evidence  of 
refinement." 

"  Nor  does  papa  think  it  so,  more  than  Mr.  Douglass,"  said 
Sarah.  "  He  knows  as  well  as  the  rest  of  us  that  it  was  not 
wine,  but  the  Nile,  that  gave  the  Egyptians  precedence  in 
civilization.  That  did  the  work  of  the  plough,  spade  and 
hoe,  ages  before  they  were  invented,  which  is  reason  enough 
for  their  early  advancement." 

' '  Yes,  Miss  Harcourt,  you  have  the  right  of  it.  The  Nile 
was  in  itself  a  greater  civilizer  than  all  other  outward  agents. 
Wine  debased  the  people,  and  undid  the  work  the  Nile  had 
done." 

"  Two  against  one,"  said  Harcourt,  "  proves  nothing. 
There  never  was  a  generous  people  that  did  not  dip  deep  in 
the  juice  of  the  grape,  from  old  Noah's  drunken  fit  to  this 
day.  The  old  barbarian  patriarchs  before  the  flood  knew 
nothing  of  this  drink  to  cheer  both  God  and  man ;  and  hence, 
the  old  dolts,  what  were  they  fit  for  but  to  be  drowned  ?  As 
soon  as  the  race  learned  from  the  ark-man  how  to  make  wine, 
they  began  to  shoot  ahead ;  and  Ham,  stealing  the  art  of  his 
father,  went  into  Egypt,  and  gave  it  both  wine  and  a  name,  as 
13 


146  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

you  know  it  is  called  Cham,  throughout  the  Old  Testament, 
after  this  wayward  son  of  Noah." 

"Your  reasoning,  sir,  strikes  me  as  more  amusing  than 
logical,"  said  Douglass,  laughing. 

"Well,  you  Christians  are  bound  to  speak  well  of  Egypt, 
because  it  gave  you  your  Moses  and  your  laws,"  said  Har- 
court. 

"  God  gave  them  to  us,  in  spite  of  Egypt,  you  mean,"  said 
Charles. 

"  By  the  way,  do  you  accept  Homer's  description  of 
Egyptian  Thebes  as  fact,  or  fiction?  "  inquired  Harcourt. 

"  What  description  do  you  refer  to  ?  " 


"  '  wf  ITU.  e»/2*c 


a  xTN/uaret 

t  <T'   CC1  'ntUtTT 


"0,  father!  "  said  Sarah,  mortified  by  this  literary  exhi- 
bition, "  do  not  give  us  these  barbarous  sounds  !  " 

"  Well,  here  you  have  it  in  the  elegant  English  of  Pope," 
replied  her  father,  still  anxious  to  maintain  his  credit  for  lit- 
erature : 

"  Not  all  proud  Thebes'  unrivalled  walls  contain, 
The  world's  great  empress  on  the  Egyptian  plain, 
That  spreads  her  conquests  o'er  a  thousand  states, 
And  pours  her  heroes  through  a  hundred  gates  ; 
Two  hundred  horsemen,  and  two  hundred  cars, 
From  each  wide  portal  issuing  to  the  wars." 

"Really,  Mr.  Harcourt,  you  have  reserved  some  time  for 
literature  amid  the  cares  of  business,"  said  Douglass. 

"I  remember  a  thing  or  two  of  my  youth,"  said  Har- 
court. 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  147 

"  I  consider  this  description  of  Homer  a  literal  matter-of-fact. 
The  present  ruins  of  Thebes  prove  this,"  added  Douglass. 

"Dear  father,  please  excuse  my  interrupting;  'but  I  have 
an  engagement,"  said  Sarah.  Her  engagement  turned  out 
to  be  "with  Canaudeh,  in  fulfilling  which  she  invited  Charles 
to  accompany  her.  She  retired  to  get  herself  in  readiness, 
and  soon  returned,  followed  by  a  lad  with  a  basket  of  nice 
things  for  their  favorite  son  of  the  forest,  and  bringing  also 
two  fish-poles,  with  hook  and  line,  that  they  might  give  an 
idle  hour  to  angling.  "You  will  smile  at  my  apparatus,  so 
unusual  in  this  land  of  wheat,  and  cattle,  and  labor.  But  I 
learned  to  amuse  myself  in  this  way  at  my  boarding-school 
on  the  Atlantic ;  and  we  have  a  babbling  brook  abounding  in 
trout  on  our  plantation,  where  I  sometimes  spend  a  leisure 
hour." 

"A  happy  thought.  No  better  could  be  imagined.  But  I 
am  unskilled  in  business  of  this  kind,  and  must  learn  of  you." 

"  Very  well;  I  can  teach  you  to  catch  trout."  Thus  fur- 
nished, away  they  flew,  leaving  Harcourt  to  his  occupations, 
whose  eye  followed  the  airy  footsteps  of  his  daughter  with  all 
a  father's  pride  and  joy.  She  ran  meandering  through  the 
shrubbery  and  lawns  of  the  plantation,  while  Charles  followed 
with  his  delicious  burden,  feeling  for  once  the  buoyancy  of 
young  spirits,  and  the  delight  of  an  overflowing  heart.  With 
all  the  excellences  of  puritanic  piety,  does  it  not  take  too  little 
account  of  the  necessity  of  recreation  to  health  and  happiness  ? 
Douglass  had  made  a  conscience  of  brooding  over  his  sorrows, 
as  if  that  might  be  some  atonement  for  his  own  faults,  or  some 
relief  for  the  unfortunate  habits  of  his  father.  He  journalized, 
struggled  with  irresistible  emotions,  and  gave  himself  to 
unrelaxed  labor  and  unmitigated  asperity,  not  considering  how 
much  he  needed  a  counter-irritant,  as  the  physicians  say,  or 


148  MAPLETONJ    OR, 

excitement  from  another  quarter  and  in  another  channel,  to 
diversify  his  emotions,  and  turn  his  mind  from  the  horrid 
ideas  which  preyed  like  vampires  on  his  spiritual  being.  Di- 
version was  his  great  want ;  though,  alas  !  it  could  not  cure 
him,  exposed  as  he  was  to  the  officious  intermeddling  of  those 
who  were  jealous  of  his  happiness,  and  bent  upon  spoiling  it, 
as  we  shall  see,  by  driving  him  into,  not  the  imaginary,  but 
the  real,  disadvantages  of  being  a  drunkard's  son.  Arriving 
at  the  border  of  the  unbroken  wilderness,  Miss  Harcourt 
paused,  and,  pointing  in  the  distance  to  Canaudeh's  wigwam, 
she  said,  "  My  way  lies  through  this  forest,  which  is  more 
convenient  than  climbing  the  fences  of  the  open  field.  But, 
Mr.  Douglass,  you  must  follow  hard  after  me,  or  you  will  be 
lost  among  the  thick  trees." 

"  No,  I  shall  not  lose  you,  unless  you  vanish,  like  wood- 
nymphs,  who  are  said  to  be  rather  coy  of  being  seen  by  men." 

"Well,  nymph  or  no  nymph,  if  you  lose  me,  it  shall  be 
your  own  fault." 

"  I  take  you  at  your  word, —  lead  on."  With  that,  she 
plunged  into  the  gloom  of  the  forest,  turning  now  this  way 
and  now  that,  to  avoid  the  impassable  thickets,  while  he  pur- 
sued like  a  hound  on  the  track  of  a  hare,  and  was  pleased  to 
find  everywhere  the  signs  of  her  former  footsteps  on  a  simi- 
lar errand  of  love. 

"Here  we  are  at  last,"  she  said,  "  and  Canaudeh  within, 
I  see  by  his  dog." 

Charles  was  sensibly  affected,  as  he  approached  the  savage, 
by  the  vivid  recollection  which  it  revived  of  that  night  of 
nights,  when  his  sable  form  was  first  revealed  to  him  amid 
the  nocturnal  gloom  of  the  forest,  and  when,  but  for  his  well- 
aimed  gun,  he  would  have  died  on  the  spot.  Often,  in  his 
subsequent  days  of  agony,  had  he  regretted  Canaudeh's  inter- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       149 

ference,  as  then  the  panther  -would  have  soon  put  him  out  of 
all  worldly  misery. 

"What  an  humble  house,"  said  Douglass,  as  they  ap- 
proached the  wigwam,  "  for  one  too  good  for  a  palace  !  " 

"  None  too  humble,  since  it  makes  him  happier  than  a  pal- 
ace could.  Happiness,  Mr.  Douglass,  is  what  the  heart 
craves ;  and  why  should  the  reality  be  sacrificed  to  the 
appearance  ?  You  know  how  tenacious  the  Indians  are  of 
this  wild  mode  of  life." 

"Yes,  the  white  captive  who  lives  long  among  them 
becomes  also  so  attached  to  it  as  to  be  with  difficulty  dis- 
suaded from  it.  His  rude  freedom,  once  tasted,  intoxicates 
the  feelings,  and  not  unfrequently  makes  civilized  life  tasteless 
and  insufferable." 

The  barking  of  the  dog  had  by  this  time  brought  Canau- 
deh  to  the  door,  and,  seeing  his  benefactress,  his  countenance 
beamed  delight ;  but,  upon  discovering  that  she  was  accom- 
panied by  a  stranger,  he  relapsed  into  his  usual  reserve,  till 
his  practised  eye  recognized  his  quondam  friend,  which  Doug- 
lass, perceiving,  rushed  to  his  arms,  when  a  greeting  ensued 
as  tender  as  between  father  and  son.  The  savages  are 

O 

remarkable  for  never  forgetting  a  friend.  All  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  chief's  noble  soul  for  once  gushed  up ;  and  the 
remembrances  which  intervened  between  this  and  their  last 
meeting,  including  his  painful  migration  to  the  distant  west 
and  his  late  return,  caused  the  mingled  tears  of  agony  and  of 
love  for  once  to  trickle  down  his  brawny  cheeks.  And  —  a 
rare  circumstance  for  him  —  he  exclaimed,  in  broken  Eng- 
lish, "Me  bliss," — putting  his  hand  upon  his  heart, — 
"Great  Spirit  me  tank;  him  great  good;  me  see  my  dead 
boy;  bravo! — him  grow  like  tall  pine."  The  last  remark 
13* 


150  MAPLETON;    OR, 

referred  to  the  manly  proportions  into  which  Charles  had 
grown  since  he  last  saw  him. 

"0,  Canaudeh,  these  sentiments  of  pious  gratitude  from 
your  lips  are  like  music  to  my  ears  !  "  said  Douglass,  with 
emotion. 

The  noble  savage  then,  stretching  up  his  tall  form  to  its  full 
length,  while  his  long  gray  locks  waved  in  the  wind,  laid  one 
hand  on  the  head  of  Sarah,  and  with  the  other  pointed  to 
heaven,  to  signify  that  there  was  his  destined  home,  and  she 
was  the  one  who  had  taught  him  the  way.  The  first  gush  of 
feeling  passed,  the  Indian  relapsed  into  his  wonted  silence, 
while  Miss  Harcourt  went  on  with  her  usual  task  of  making 
him  understand  a  portion  of  God's  word.  The  lesson  of  this 
morning  was  the  scene  of  Gethsemane,  which,  as  she  pro- 
ceeded to  unfold  it  to  his  view,  threw  an  air  of  solemn  devo- 
tion over  his  features ;  and,  pointing  to  an  uprooted  oak,  he 
showed  by  signs  that,  as  the  winds  had  rudely  dealt  with 
that,  so  he  should  soon  fall,  as  the  only  relic  of  his  tribe  ;  — • 
but  it  would  be  to  find  salvation  by  Him  who  thus  suffered  in 
the  garden,  and  expired  upon  the  cross. 

"  How  my  heart  bleeds  at  the  injuries  which  this  noble 
race  has  suffered  at  our  hands !  "  said  Charles,  as  they  left 
the  wigwam.  "  We  have  given  them  our  inventions,  without 
teaching  them  how  to  use  them.  We  have  given  them  rum 
and  gunpowder,  but  without  the  gospel.  Poor  fellow !  he 
seems  not  to  be  insensible  to  his  wrongs." 

"Insensible?  No,  he  feels  them  keenly.  His  red  brethren 
also  feel  them.  But  our  wrong,  I  think,  does  not  so  much 
consist  in  withholding  the  gospel, —  because,  from  the  days  of 
their  apostle  Eliot  to  this  time,  we  have  done  much  to  Chris- 
tianize them, —  but  in  not  living  it,  in  not  practising  it,  in  our 
intercourse  with  them.  Besides,  alcohol  to  a  savage  appetite 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       151 

is  more  certain  death  than  arsenic  ;  for  it  begets  a  fatal  thirst, 
which  the  latter  does  not.  They  can  taste  the  one  without 
craving  it  to  their  death,  but  not  the  other." 

"Yes,  yes;  alcohol  has  swept  from  this  continent  the 
noblest  of  all  the  races,"  said  Douglass' with  feeling,  derived 
from  his  own  sad  experience. 

"  The  severest  part  of  my  task,  Mr.  Douglass,  has  been  to 
impress  Canaudeh  with  the  difference  between  Christianity 
and  Christians.  As  soon  as  he  took  hold  on  this,  and  learned 
to  look  at  Christ  and  the  gospel  as  distinct  from  the  white 
race,  his  heart  was  open  to  the  truth  and  love  which  shine  in 
the  character  of  our  Saviour." 

"  And  the  same  is  true  of  all  men.  Christianity  has  in  it 
the  force  of  universal  conviction.  It  is  a  religion  of  love ; 
and  love  to  the  soul  is  what  light  is  to  the  eye.  It  subdues 
the  untractable,  softens  the  obdurate,  and  does  more  than  the 
fabled  harp  of  Orpheus,  which  stayed  the  flow  of  rivers,  made 
savage  beasts  forget  their  wildness,  mountains  dance  to  its 
strains,  and  charmed  the  prince  of  hell  into  clemency.  0  ! 
the  love  of  Christianity,  as  disconnected  from  the  animosity 
of  Christians,  is  a  miracle-worker  in  the  cause  of  virtue  and 
civilization." 

' '  I  like  the  temperance  pledge,  Mr.  Douglass,  but  I  am 
satisfied  that  that  alone  could  not  save  Canaudeh  from  a 
drunkard's  grave.  Christian  principle  must  come  to  its  sup- 
port ;  and  mental,  moral  and  social  excitements,  must  supply 
the  place  of  the  bottle." 

"  But,  without  the  pledge  of  total  abstinence,  what  can 
they  do  7  It  is  healing  a  wound  without  extracting  its  viru- 
lence, and  thus  leaving  it  to  break  out  again.  One  daily 
dram  is  enough  to  break  the  ties  of  principle,  mental  excite- 
ment, and  of  social  or  religious  influence.  I  know  it,  I  know 


152  MAPLETON;    OR, 

it,  Miss  Harcourt ;  I  have  seen  it  over  and  over  again,  and 
never  more  than  in  our  dear  Mapleton,  within  a  few  years 
past." 

"  What  has  happened  in  your  town  1 " 

"Ah  me!"  said  Douglass,  with  a  sigh,  "I'll  tell  you 
another  time ;  it  is  too  long  a  story  before  my  lesson  in  fish- 
ing." 

"  Well,  here  is  our  babbling  brook;  but  we  must  follow  it 
down  to  my  favorite  place.  The  fish  are  too  coy  for  me  else- 
where." 

"A  babbling  brook,  indeed!  How  clear!  how  lively! 
how  beautiful !  I  wonder  not  that  you  love  such  a  brook  as 
this ;  I  should  love  it  now,  for  its  own  sake,  if  I  had  not  loved 
it  before  for  yours." 

"Here,  then,  in  this  deep  place,  I  always  succeed  best; 
but  I  resign  it  to  you,  for  your  first  lesson,  and  I  will  station 
myself  near." 

"  You  are  very  kind,"  said  he,  preparing  to  drop  his  line. 

"No,  stop;  here's  a  drug  that  Canaudeh  taught  me  to 
scent  the  bait  with,"  she  said,  dropping  a  little  upon  his  bait. 
"Now,  here,  here;  disengage  your  line;  do  as  I  tell  you, 
and  be  sure  and  move  the  hook  gently,  to  take  the  attention 
of  the  fish.  A  moving  mouse  is  far  more  tempting  to  pussy 
than  a  dead  one." 

He  obeyed  orders,  while  she  went  a  short  distance,  and 
commenced  angling.  In  a  few  moments,  out  bounded  her 
hook,  with  a  pendent  trout,  all  spotted  with  gold. 

"  Charming  preceptress,  how  shall  I  catch  your  art?"  said 
Charles,  laughing. 

"  Good  reason  why  you  do  not  catch  it;  you  are  all  the 
time  looking  round  at  me.  You  must  keep  your  eyes  upon 
your  line,  and  move  it  as  I  tell  you." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  153 

"  This  is  the  hardest  part  of  my  lesson.  How  can  I  help 
looking  round?" 

"  You  rogue !  do  as  I  tell  you,  and  it  will  be  easy,"  said 
she,  laughing,  when  out  leaped  her  hook  again,  with  another 
fish. 

"  Now,  this  is  too  bad  !  It  is  not  Canaudeh's  medicine, 
but  your  witchery,  that  allures  the  fish.  If  I  were  a  fish,  I 
am  sure  I  could  not  help  biting  such  a  hook." 

"  0,  you  must  be  complimentary ! "  she  said,  with  a  hearty 
laugh,  in  which  he  joined ;  and  the  woods  rang  with  the  music 
of  their  mirth.  "Your  motions  are  not  gentle  enough,  Mr. 
Douglass.  You  scare  the  fish  by  splashing  your  line." 

"Gentle?  How  can  I  be  gentle  enough  for  these  timid 
little  things  ?  My  shadow  scares  them.  They  have  basked 
too  long  in  your  superior  gentleness  to  endure  me." 

"You  mock  me,  Mr.  Douglass.  I  do  not  like  your  flat- 
tery." 

"  I  do  not  flatter ;  I  speak  sincerely ;  my  heart  will  out." 

"If  your  heart  is  out,  keep  your  hand  steady,"  she  replied, 
gayly.  "There  comes  another  noble  fellow!  Poor  fishy! 
isn't  it  too  cruel?" 

"Yes,  Miss  Harcourt;  my  heart  is  touched.  I  could  n't 
perpetrate  such  a  deed." 

"  Then  your  heart  is  about  you  yet,  it  seems ;  and,  I  sup- 
pose, would  be  touched  with  joy,  as  much  as  it  now  is  with 
pity,  if  the  fish  would  deign  to  bite  your  hook.  You  must 
mend  your  ways  before  you  arraign  my  cruelty." 

"  You  cruel?  It's  impossible.  It  is  a  mercy  to  the  fish 
to  die  by  such  hands.  There  !  I  have  a  bite  ! "  added  Doug- 
lass, snatching  his  hook  with  such  violence  as  to  tear  it  from 
its  fastenings,  and  the  fish  fell  into  the  stream. 

"  Well,  let  it  go.    I  have  a  supply  for  both.    One  o'clock," 


154  MAPLETON:  OR, 

added  she,  looking  at  her  watch.  "  Dear  me  !  it  is  so  late  . 
Come,  Mr.  Douglass,  we  must  go." 

"  What !  before  I  catch  one  fish?" 

"  0,  you  will  do  better  next  time.  You  could  not  be 
expected  to  advance  far  in  your  first  lesson." 

"  If  I  do  not,  it  '11  not  be  the  fault  of  my  teacher." 

"Perhaps  you  are  more  successful  in  Peter's  occupation 
of  catching  men,"  said  Miss  Harcourt,  who  suspected  Doug- 
lass' destination. 

"If  that  should  prove  true,  Miss  Harcourt,  the  cherished 
hope  of  my  life  will  be  realized." 

"No  hope  could  be  better.  'He  that  winneth  souls  is 
wise.' 3: 

"  This  destination  —  too  exalted  for  the  aspirings  of  one  so 
humble  —  has,  for  some  mysterious  cause,  been  long  before 
my  mind." 

"  And  your  education  has  been  directed  with  reference  to 
it?" 

"  Not  formally,  but  really.  My  engagement  in  Forest- 
dale  has  no  other  object." 

"  Precisely  as  I  suspected.  You  live  there  as  a  teacher 
of  religion." 

"Yes;  as  a  teacher  of  religion,  but  not  with  the  grave 
responsibilities  of  a  pastor.  This  is  a  calling  in  which  prac- 
tice must  concur  with  theory,  to  prepare  one  for  it ;  and  my 
friends  advised  this  course,  to  settle  my  mind,  and  test  my 
fitness  to  make  myself  useful  in  it." 

"  Something  more  than  practice  or  theory  seemed  to  be 
necessary  to  the  apostles.  They  had  to  be  endued  with 
power  from  on  high;  and  are  we  less  dependent  in  this 
respect?" 

" No,  none  the  less;  but  how  are  we  to  obtain  it?  that  is 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       155 

the  question.  By  what  means  did  you  come  to  have  views 
of  this  subject  so  just  7  " 

"  I  cannot  say  that  they  are  so;  but  I  will  tell  you  how  I 
came  to  think  as  I  do,  when  you  have  told  me  more  about 
Mapleton." 

This  conversation  was  terminated  on  the  balcony  of  the 
mansion,  where  they  parted,  Miss  Harcourt  to  look  after  her 
household  affairs,  and  Douglass  to  muse  on  the  incidents  of 
the  day.  To  a  young  man  of  Charles'  habits  and  unhappy 
domestic  relations,  nothing  can  be  conceived  more  invigorat- 
ing to  head,  heart  and  health,  than  these  hours  of  rural 
relaxation,  in  such  society.  When  he  was  alone,  his  dreary, 
soul-consuming  years  came  peering  up  to  his  view,  like  the 
dashing  -wreck  from  which  the  storm-smitten  sailor  has 
escaped,  with  the  loss  of  all  but  his  life.  But,  alas  !  there  is 
no  repose  to  a  drunkard's  son.  The  more  he  felt  himself 
becoming  interested  in  this  new  and  delightful  acquaintance, 
the  more  he  feared  the  effect  of  having  his  father's  character 
known.  It  was  a  sun-dog  to  breed  a  storm,  and  not  a  rain- 
bow to  harbinger  a  clear  sky,  that  seemed  to  lure  him  on. 

Dinner  was  soon  announced,  and  Douglass  met  father  and 
daughter  again,  at  table.  Health  lent  its  charms  to  her  per- 
son ;  exercise  in  the  open  air  made  her  spirits  elastic ;  piety 
overcast  her  with  grace  and  loveliness ;  and  no  feature  was 
wanting  to  complete  in  her  the  ideal  of  a  model  Christian 
female.  No  sombre  airs,  no  whining  cant,  no  incapacity  to 
please  or  be  pleased,  no  prudish  affectation  of  gravity  in 
dress, — nothing  of  the  kind,  to  eclipse  the  lustre  of  her  char- 
acter; but  all  was  bland,  frank,  social,  cheerful.  Little 
passed  between  them  at  table.  They  were  too  happy  in  their 
own  reflections  to  talk,  and  too  much  interested  in  their  antic- 
ipated disclosures  to  fit  them  for  conversation  in  the  pres- 


156  MAPLETON;  OR, 

ence  of  a  third  person.  Harcourt  sipped  his  wine  freely,  and 
offered  the  cup  to  his  guest,  but  it  was  politely  declined. 

"  What,  Mr.  Douglass  !  —  a  teetotaller  ?  " 

"  I  never  drink  anything  that  intoxicates,"  replied  Charles. 

"  Excuse  me,  sir;  but  that  always  looks  to  me  suspicious, 
as  if  a  man  did  in  secret  what  he  was  ashamed  to  do  openly." 

"It  is  a  suspicion  without  foundation  in  my  case,  Mr. 
Harcourt,  for  I  never  drink  at  all." 

"  0,  ah,  yes,  yes;  not  at  all ;  and  the  meaning  is,  I  sup- 
pose, that  nobody  else  shall  drink.  That,  I  believe,  is  the 
motive  of  your  teetotal  principle." 

"  We  leave  every  one  to  do  as  he  pleases ;  but  our  convic- 
tion is,  that  the  total  disuse  of  intoxicating  liquids  as  a  bev- 
erage would  save  the  world  an  untold  amount  of  crime,  pov- 
erty and  wretchedness." 

"  No  doubt,  no  doubt;  but  my  principle  is,  that  those  who 
are  so  weak  as  not  to  be  able  to  drink  without  injuring  them- 
selves would  be  in  some  other  way  criminal,  poor  and  wretched, 
if  wine  were  given  up.  Your  teetotalism  can't  save  them." 

"  Perhaps  not  all,  but  the  greater  part  of  them." 

"But,  if  I  gave  up  one  good  thing  because  others  abused 
it,  then  I  may  another ;  and  where  shall  I  end  ?  I  must 
reduce  myself  to  absolute  hermitage;  because  there  is  no 
possible  comfort  that  somebody  does  not  abuse." 

"  But  we  do  not  consider  alcohol,  as  a  beverage,  among 
our  good  things.  We  are  all  better  off  without  it.  Besides, 
there  is  this  difference  between  your  wine  and  our  real  com- 
forts, that  it  generates,  in  a  large  proportion  of  those  who 
use  it  habitually,  a  dangerous  appetite,  which  is  with  diffi- 
culty controlled,  and  which,  when  indulged,  leads  to  the 
greatest  evils  of  which  flesh  is  heir.  It  alienates  the  reason ; 
which  cannot  be  said  of  our  real  comforts." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       157 

« 

"A  precious  little  reason  does  it  alienate;  for  the  fools 
who  use  it  in  that  manner  have  no  reason.  They  are  not 
worth  saving.  I  would  not  give  up  my  wine  to  save  as  many 
as  you  could  shake  a  stick  at." 

"  Dear  father,"  said  Sarah,  "you  speak  more  than  you 
mean.  You  have  a  tender  heart,  and  would  make  great 
sacrifices  to  render  the  miserable  happy,  I  know." 

"Certainly,  certainly,  my  daughter;  but  the  thing  is,  to 
be  convinced  that  giving  up  my  wine  would  have  this  effect. 
Nobody  but  a  fanatic  would  ever  have  thought  such  a  thing." 

Sarah  Avas  everything  to  her  father,  and  he,  apart  from  his 
infidel  and  worldly  views,  was  everything  to  her  that  a 
daughter  could  desire.  It  was  his  life  to  please  her,  the  im- 
age of  that  dear  departed  one  who  was  ever  present  to  his 
view,  and  whose  influence,  but  for  his  unfortunate  drinking 
habits,  might  have  elevated  him  to  the  same  spiritual  hopes 
which  greeted  her  in  her  death.  But  this  habit,  though 
never  indulged  to  the  extent  of  what  the  world  calls  intoxica- 
tion (which  he  despised  more  than  most  men),  kept  his  moral 
feelings  in  a  disguised  state,  and  he  did  not  reason  nor  feel  on 
religious  subjects  as  he  probably  would  if  the  bane  had  never 
entered  his  blood. 

Dinner  ended,  the  young  couple  sought  retirement  to  com- 
plete their  explanations.  It  was  one  of  those  warm  days  of 
November  that  pass  for  Indian  summer.  The  autumnal  flies 
were  sporting  in  the  sunbeams  in  clusters  like  moving  aerial 
pyramids,  the  second-growth  lettuce  and  spinage  were  ex- 
panding their  green  leaves  in  the  garden,  the  cricket  was 
singing  his  monotonous  ditty,  the  flocks  and  herds  were  crop- 
ping the  mown  grass,  and  all  was  serene  and  lovely,  like  the 
old  age  of  a  well-spent  life. 

"  0,  Mr.  Douglass,  I  must  take  you  to  our  spring  arbor, 
14 


158  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

the  loveliest  spot  on  the  plantation !  "  exclaimed  Miss  Har- 
court. 

"  Do  call  me  Charles,  Miss  Harcourt.  I  have  had  it  at 
my  tongue's  end  to  say  this,  all  day ;  Mr.  Douglass  is  so 
stiff!" 

"  I  should  make  a  fine  figure  calling  you  Charles,  when 
you  this  moment  called  me  Miss  Harcourt.  Call  me  Sarah, 
and  try  the  effect  of  example  before  you  correct  me." 

"Agreed,  Sarah,  sweet  Sarah!  that  has  always  been  a 
favorite  name  to  me.  I  called  you  so  during  those  happy 
days  of  our  childish  acquaintance." 

"  Here  we  are  at  Spring  Arbor.     How  do  you  like  it?  " 

"  Delightful !  —  a  perfect  Elysium !  I  never  before  imag- 
ined a  spot  of  earth  so  beautiful."  Nor  was  the  guise  of 
fancy  necessary  to  extort  this  confession.  A  little  west  of 
Mr.  Harcourt's  house,  the  rocky  defile  curved  round  to  the 
north,  so  as  to  form  a  semi-circular  space  begirt  by  a  natural 
wall,  like  the  intersected  half  of  an  amphitheatre,  it  being 
from  the  plain  below  to  the  level  of  the  country  above  the 
rocks  full  sixty  feet.  The  open  side  of  the  semi-circle  looked 
to  the  south- west,,  so  as  to  command  a  full  view  of  the  descend- 
ing sun  of  autumn,  while  in  its  bosom  gurgled  up  from  the 
cavity  of  the  mountain  a  copious  spring  of  pellucid  water, 
which  formed  itself  into  a  pond  of  a  hundred  yards  in  cir- 
cumference. Between  this  pond  and  the  rocky  defile  on  the 
north  side  of  it  Mr.  Harcourt  had  planted  a  vineyard,  the 
ample  tendrils  of  which  stretched  themselves  over  the  trees, 
shrubs  and  artificial  supports,  so  as  to  form  a  spacious  arbor 
covered  by  a  thick  vegetable  awning,  and  looking  out  upon 
the  glassy  surface  of  the  fountain,  which  he  had  peopled  with 
a  great  variety  of  water-fowl. 

What  may  seem  extraordinary,  the  young  couple,  who 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        159 

thought  themselves  alone,  were  not  so,  but  in  the  presence  of 
a  third  person.  That  person  was  no  other  than  Samuel  Gil- 
fort,  the  skulking  serpent,  who,  from  motives  which  will  here- 
after appear,  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to 
learn  the  probable  tendency  of  an  acquaintance  so  purely 
accidental  as  far  as  the  parties  were  concerned,  which  could 
have  as  yet  no  other  motive  than  that  of  the  pleasure  they 
felt  in  each  other,  as  the  gushing  up  of  their  childish  recollec- 
tions. If  there  was  anything  beyond  this,  it  must  be  set  to 
the  account  of  a  certain  fitness  of  person,  taste  and  character, 
which  interference  might  be  expected  to  develop  rather  than 
repress.  Whether  this  eavesdropping  was  from  accident  or 
design,  on  the  part  of  Gilfort,  is  not  a  well-settled  question. 
He  had  been  that  morning  gaming  in  a  contiguous  forest ; 
and,  it  is  said  by  some,  had  returned  late  and  sat  down  to 
rest  himself  under  the  shade  of  a  rock  enclosed  by  vines  and 
shrubbery  back  of  the  pool,  and  would  have  escaped  when  he 
saw  the  young  couple  enter  the  arbor,  if  he  could  have  done  it 
without  exposure ;  —  but,  as  he  could  not,  he  laid  still,  where 
he  could  see  and  hear  all  that  passed,  without  being  himself 
detected.  Others  affirm  that  he  had  been  cognizant  of  Doug- 
lass' previous  visit,  and  that  he  took  this  clandestine  method 
to  ascertain  whether  a  rival  was  likely  to  spring  up  to  his 
own  fondly-cherished  hopes.  It  is  not  material  to  our  pur- 
pose that  we  should  vex  ourselves  with  the  real  facts  of  this 
singular  instance  of  meddling  with  other  people's  business. 

Upon  seating  himself  beside  Miss  Harcourt  in  the  Arbor, 
Charles  exclaimed  again,  looking  out  upon  the  glassy  surface 
of  the  pool,  "  A  perfect  paradise, —  an  Eden  !  " 

"And  I'll  be  the  serpent,"  whispered  Gilfort,  inaudibly. 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  said  Sarah,  with  a  start  of  surprise. 

"Nothing  but  a  cricket;  I  heard  a  cricket  peep,"  replied 


160  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

Douglass.  "What  a  beautiful  idea  of  your  father  to  people 
the  pool  with  such  charming  tenantry  !  See  how  gracefully 
those  swans  move  their  arched  necks !  How  enchanting 
their  aquatic  evolutions !  Not  Joseph's  many-colored  coat 
could  equal  the  multiform  plumage  of  these  eider-drakes. 
How  elaborately  are  the  minutest  things  in  nature  adorned 
for  our  use! " 

"That  young  ass  thinks  he  brays  beautifully,"  thought 
Gilfort,  loud  enough  to  excite  Sarah's  fears  again  ;  and  she 
said,  "There!  what  is  that?  I  certainly  heard  something 
strange." 

"Yes,  a  cricket  again;  it  is  sweet  in  my  ear.  Don't  you 
love  the  music  of  crickets?" 

"  I  do  not  object,  if  it  is  that." 

"  Tell  me,  Sarah,  do  you  not  spend  much  time  here?  " 

"  0,  yes,  I  do, —  not  to  look  at  what  you  so  much  admire, 
but  to  think  of  my  dear  mother,  who  is  now  in  heaven.  The 
mind  has  in  it  imagery  so  transcending  all  outward  loveliness, 
that  we  forget  the  one  in  our  contemplation  of  the  other." 

"  Pray,  Sarah,  what  are  the  facts  in  reference  to  your 
mother  ?  She  seems  to  live  in  your  mind  as  an  ever-pervad- 
ing presence,  and  I  have  always  been  curious  for  an  explana- 
tion." 

"  The  story  is  short,  but  full  of  meaning  to  an  orphan's 
mind.  My  mother  was  to  me,  while  she  lived,  the  oracle  of 
God.  Thoughts  of  God's  goodness  and  Christ's  love  were 
interwoven  with  the  lullaby  of  the  cradle  and  with  the  stories 
of  the  nursery.  Nor  were  her  pious  assiduities  in  vain. 
Her  words  dropped  upon  me  like  the  gentle  showers  on  the 
spring  grass.  My  earliest  ideas  were  ideas  of  God,  my  first 
words  words  of  prayer,  and  my  childish  enthusiasm  was  to 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  161 

be  as  good  as  my  mother  was, —  yea,  as  good  as  she  repre- 
sented Jesus  to  my  young  imagination. 

"  She  died  when  I  was  eight  years  old ;  and  such  a  parent's 
death  no  child  ever  witnessed.  She  was  so  calm,  so  sweetly 
submissive,  so  charmingly  lovely,  in  her  sickness,  that  my 
whole  soul  was  wrapped  up  in  hers,  and  it  always  seemed  to 
me  a  miracle  of  unbelief  that  my  dear  father  was  not  won  to 
her  faith.' '  Douglass  thought  within  himself  that  the  mystery 
was  fully  revealed  in  the  drinking  habits  of  her  father.  The 
serpent-cup  held  him  with  its  charmed  eye.  It  corrupted  all 
his  moral  judgments.  While  he  despised  drunkenness,  no 
drunkard  could  be  more  wedded  to  his  cup,  or  more  constantly 
disguised  by  it.  This  accounted  for  his  singular  unbelief, 
amid  evidences  of  Christian  truth,  in  the  life  and  death  of 
his  wife,  which  were  overwhelming.  What  is  the  more 
remarkable,  was  the  perfect  adoration  with  which  he  cher- 
ished the  memory  of  his  wife,  indisposing  him  to  another 
marriage,  and  rendering  him  so  fond  of  Sarah  from  an  idea 
that  she  was  like  her  mother.  But  still,  all  this  mighty  array 
of  Christian  domestic  influence  was  more  than  counterbal- 
anced by  the  irresistible  incantation  of  wine.  These  thoughts 
passed  through  the  mind  of  Charles,  though  delicacy  re- 
strained the  expression  of  them. 

"  It  was  midnight,"  continued  Sarah,  "when  my  blessed 
mother  breathed  her  last.  At  her  request,  I  was  awaked  an 
hour  previous.  When  I  came  to  her  bedside,  she  said,  '  My 
sweet  Sarah,  your  mamma  is  dying ! '  I  sobbed  as  if  I 
would  break  my  heart.  '  My  tender  daughter,'  said  she, 
'  come  once  more  to  your  dear  mamma's  arms.'  With  that, 
the  nurse  set  me  on  the  bed  by  her  side,  and  she  clasped  me 
in  her  cold  arms,  imprinted  the  kiss  of  her  clammy  lips  upon 
my  cheek,  and  said,  '  0,  Sarah,  my  darling  child,  remember 
14* 


162  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

your  mother  died  a  Christian.  She  loved  Jesus.  She  prayed 
to  him  continually.  She  trusted  his  atoning  blood.  Remem- 
ber your  mother  said  her  dying  hour  was  the  happiest  of  her 
life.  Yes,  full  of  happiness,  and  full  of  hope.  There  is  no 
happiness,  and  no  hope,  without  holiness,  my  darling  daugh- 
ter. I  leave  you  in  God's  hand.  I  know  He  will  take  better 
care  of  you  than  your  mamma  could.  I  have  his  promise. 
I  can  trust  him.  My  breath  is  short,'  she  added,  panting. 
'  I  am  away, —  I  am  away !  Angels  beckon  me.  Jesus 
smiles  me  into  heaven.  Glory,  glory,  glory  !  '  and  with  her 
last  word  her  breath  was  exhaled  upon  my  cheek,  her  arms 
still  clasping  me  in  the  cold  embrace  of  death." 

Gilfort,  moved  by  this  recital,  could  not  restrain  his  tears, 
ejaculating,  "Sweet! — beautiful! — divine!  Now  I  feel 
the  charm  of  innocence.  0  that  I  had  been  born  to  a  like 
inheritance !  Cursed  training !  —  incurable  habit !  "  Steeped 
as  he  was  in  infamy,  born  to  a  money-digging,  whiskey-drink- 
ing, night-walking  inheritance,  still  his  heart  had  its  tender 
points.  Whose  has  not  ?  The  evil  spirit  of  alcohol,  indulged 
from  youth,  with  habits  in  other  respects  to  correspond,  is 
enough  to  make  a  fiend  of  any  man.  "  My  father,"  contin- 
ued Sarah,  "looked  upon  the  scene  in  tearless  anguish.  He 
felt  too  much  to  weep.  Since  that  I  have  been  his  bosom 
friend.  His  love  to  me,  I  sometimes  fancy,  arises  chiefly 
from  his  idea  that  I  resemble  my  mother.  0,  Charles,  I  can 
never  forget  that  scene  !  It  made  me  —  what  shall  I  say '? 
—  a  child  of  faith.  Faith  gives  substance  to  unseen  things, 
rests  upon  the  word  and  providence  of  God,  and  peoples  the 
spirit-land  with  living  forms  of  light  and  love.  Were  I 
rudely  visited  with  the  trials  of  life,  I  know  not  how  they 
would  affect  me.  But  ours  is  a  faith  that  overcomes. 
Greater  is  He  who  is  for  us  than  all  they  that  can  be  against 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       163 

us,  and  I  will  not  yield  to  fear.  Still,  faith  is  a  delicate  plant, 
and  must  not  be  rudely  handled.  When  once  broken,  it  is 
hard  for  it  to  send  forth  its  shoots." 

"That  is  it,"  replied  Charles;  "break  it,  and  it  cannot 
bloom  again.  Mine  is  broken,  broken  by  sorrow,  broken  by 
wrong, —  wrong  in  myself  and  others, —  broken  by  a  burden 
of  our  Mapleton'  history  which  it  was  too  Aveak  to  sustain. 
How  shall  I  make  it  green  and  blooming  again  ?  " 

"  Pray,  what  has  happened  in  Mapleton?  I  have  a  dear 
recollection  of  the  place,  having  passed  one  year  there  while 
our  house  was  building." 

Douglass  here  detailed  the  facts  in  reference  to  the  grog- 
gery  and  its  effects,  which,  especially  that  part  which  con- 
cerned his  own  father  and  the  Durham  family,  perfectly 
appalled  her.  The  part  of  the  story  that  concerned  the 
money-diggers  exasperated  Gilfort  almost  to  madness,  as  he 
had  a  great  interest  to  stand  well  with  the  Harcourts ;  and  he 
would  have  pounced  upon  the  young  couple  at  once,  dagger  in 
hand,  but  for  the  hope  of  sweeter  revenge  on  Douglass,  and 
even  of  success  with  Miss  Harcourt,  by  some  future  turn  of 
fortune's  wheel. 

"  Charles,  your  case  is  not  so  bad  as  you  think,"  said 
Sarah.  "  No,  no, —  it  admits  of  hope.  Faith  can  conquer 
difficulties  even  great  as  these.  Dear,  dear  Mrs.  Durham  ! 
I  remember  her  well.  I,  too,  was  her  Sunday-school  scholar 
for  a  short  time.  A  perfect  gem  of  a  woman.  But  it  is  a 
gem  better  fitted  to  shine  in  heaven  than  upon  earth.  The 
Wisest  and  Best  saw  this,  and  took  her  home  in  a  manner  so 
shocking  to  our  feelings.  The  dark  picture  has  a  bright  side 
to  the  eye  of  faith.  It  is  spanned  by  the  bow  of  hope. 
Charles,  you  will  conquer  all  your  difficulties,  and  rise  yet  to 


164  MAPLETON;    OB, 

a  higher  and  serener  life.  It  is  good  to  wear  the  yoke  in 
one's  youth." 

The  tones  in  which  this  was  said  were  so  soft,  so  gentle, 
so  unaffected,  and,  withal,  so  musical,  being  sustained  also  by 
a  demeanor  that  seemed  such  a  genuine  reflection  of  heavenly 
light,  that  it  infused  new  life  and  hope  into  the  petrified  heart 
of  Douglass.  He  sat  for  a  moment,  buried  in  deep  thought- 
fulness,  and  then,  half  unconscious  of  what  he  was  saying,  he 
broke  forth  into  a  passionate  exclamation  to  the  following 
effect : 

"0  for  such  a  friend,  to  be  the  constant  prompter  of  my 
faith,  the  healer  of  my  woes,  the  light  of  my  erring  reason, 
the  restorer  of  my  wrecked  life !  "  and,  seizing  Miss  liar- 
court  by  the  hand,  passionately,  he  added,  "  Will  you  be  all 
that  tome?" 

"  Hands  off!  hands  off ! "  muttered  Gilfort,  "  or  I  '11  be  the 
death  of  you  !  Take  off  the  checks  of  my  conscience !  con- 
vert me  into  gall !  steep  me  in  malice  !  let  not  relenting  sym- 
pathy hold  me  back!"  meanwhile  flourishing  furiously  a 
poniard  which  he  always  carried  about  his  person.  But,  as 
usual  with  him,  wiser  counsels  prevailed,  and  he  was  content 
to  bide  his  time  of  revenge.  His  mutterings  and  motionings, 
however,  excited  so  much  alarm  in  the  young  couple,  that, 
choosing  the  better  part  of  valor,  they  escaped,  without  any 
clear  idea  as  to  the  cause  of  the  commotion. 

It  was  arranged  at  parting,  that  evening,  that  Douglass 
should  soon  visit  the  plantation.  In  this  he  was  disappointed 
by  the  increasing  demands  upon  his  time  among  his  people. 
He  visited  the  schools,  did  what  he  could  to  procure  for  them 
suitable  teachers,  excited  the  emulation  of  the  pupils  by 
means  of  prizes,  encouraged  the  establishment  of  libraries, 
took  pains  to  excite  a  taste  for  reading,  formed  a  temperance 


MORE  WOEK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        165 

society,  and  was  the  means  of  reclaiming  numbers  to  sobriety, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  ministered  to  the  spiritual  edification 
of  the  people.  He  had  frequent  momentary  interviews  with 
Miss  Harcourt,  as  she  now  became  one  of  his  hearers,  it 
being  the  first  and  only  religious  meeting  at  all  accessible  to 
her  new-country  home.  She  even  taught  a  Bible-class,  and 
gathered  around  her  the  principal  young  ladies  of  the  town, 
over  whom  she  exerted  a  happy  influence.  She  doubted  the 
propriety  of  this  step  at  first,  lest  it  should  afford  food  to 
scandal,  and  consulted  Douglass  on  the  subject. 

"  Scandal  would  soon  starve  on  such  food,"  was  his  reply. 

Her  father  was  the  only  obstacle  that  remained,  but  this 
was  removed  by  his  obliging  reply  to  her  inquiry  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

"  Yes,  teach  the  misses  anything, —  conic  sections,  an  old 
almanac,  or  the  Bible, —  rather  than  leave  their  minds  a 
stagnant  pool,  to  breed  absurdities.  John,  and  the  old  grays, 
and  the  close  carriage,  are  always  at  your  service,  my  daugh- 
ter. Do  not  think  I  am  going  to  leave  you  exposed  to  the 
elements,  in  going  to  Forestdale,  lest  you  too  soon  follow  your 
departed  mother." 

Sarah  wept  at  the  kindness  of  her  father,  and  Douglass 
could  not  but  honor  his  parental  devotion,  whatever  he  might 
be  in  other  respects.  Thus  the  two  became  co-laborers ;  and 
it  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  success  of  the  work.  The 
social  and  spiritual  affections  stand  related  to  each  other 
somewhat  like  matter  and  mind,  in  the  constitution  of  man ; 
the  one  not  being  healthy  while  the  other  is  diseased. 

Things  went  on  thus  a  few  weeks,  when  Douglass  paid 
another  visit  to  the  plantation,  and  came  to  a  formal  under- 
standing with  Miss  Harcourt,  conditioned  on  the  father's 
consent.  This  was  Friday,  and  he  was  to  be  consulted  on 


166  MAPLETON;    OR, 

the  subject  the  ensuing  Monday.  As  the  night  was  stormy, 
Douglass  did  not  leave  till  Saturday  morning,  when,  as4e  was 
about  to  mount  his  horse,  he  expressed  some  surprise  to  Miss 
Harcourt  that  he  had  not  seen  her  father  since  entering  the 
house  the  former  evening.  Sarah  then  first  awoke  to  the  fact 
herself,  but  added, 

"I  rather  think  papa  has  a  cold,  and  deems  it  prudent  to 
keep  his  room." 

"  My  dear  Sarah,  you  look  depressed  this  morning.  Is  it 
that  our  destinies  have  become  involved?" 

"  No  ;  it  is  the  fear  of  having  them  divided." 

','  That 's  impossible.  There  is  one,  at  least,  who  could  not 
endure  it.  His  existence  apart  from  you  would  not  be  worth 
a  song." 

"  We  will  not  indulge  unnecessary  fears.  I  see  no  cause 
for  our  thoughts  taking  such  a  gloomy  turn." 

"  No,  there  can  be  none,  if  we  are  only  sound  at  heart  and 
fixed  in  mind.  All  other  sorrows  would  be  more  than 
summed  up  in  the  loss  of  you.  A  kind  Providence,  who  sees 
how  unable  I  am  to  sustain  such  a  load,  will  not  impose  it 
upon  me." 

"Charles,"  said  she,  "I  have  just  received  this  package 
of  books,  which  I  have  promised  to  distribute  among  my  class 
to-morrow,  and  so  you  may  rely  upon  seeing  me  early." 

"  Early,  my  love  ! "  he  added,  and  so  they  parted. 

The  Sabbath  came,  the  class  met,  and  sat  looking  wistfully 
at  each  other ;  but  no  teacher  came.  Douglass  was  surprised 
and  confounded.  He  said  to  the  young  ladies  that  Miss 
Harcourt  was  no  doubt  sick,  as  she  had  their  books,  and  was 
fondly  awaiting  this  hour  to  deliver  them.  His  heart  sunk 
within  him,  and  he  could  hardly  wait  till  Monday  morning  for 
an  explanation  of  the  mystery.  As  soon  as  it  was  light,  he 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  167 

was  on  his  way  to  the  mansion.  But,  lo  !  he  found  the 
shutters  closed,  the  doors  locked,  and,  when  he  rang,  there 
was  no  response.  He  hastened  round  back  of  the  main  build- 
ing, when  he  saw  smoke  rising  from  the  wing  in  which  the 
kitchen  was  situated,  and  met  a  servant  at  the  door,  who  told 
him  that  Mr.  Harcourt  and  daughter  had  left,  the  previous 
Saturday,  to  return  no  more :  and  that  his  family  were  the 
sole  occupants  of  the  house,  with  which  they  had  been  left  in 
charge. 

"Where  have  they  gone?"  inquired  Douglass. 

"How  d'ye  s'pose  sich  as  me  knows?  They  be  great 
folk,  that  has  more  housen  as  one." 

"  Still,  Charles  thought  some  one  on  the  plantation  must 
be  able  to  inform  him  where  they  had  gone ;  and  he  went 
round  to  inquire  of  the  tenantry,  but  found  them  all  as  much 
in  the  dark  as  himself.  Canaudeh's  wigwam  was  vacant,  and 
he  could  get  no  intelligence  from  that  quarter.  The  failure 
of  supplies  from  the  mansion  had  probably  driven  him  to  the 
woods  in  search  of  game.  When  Charles  reached  Spring 
Arbor,  he  found  the  pool  ice-bound,  the  vines  encumbered 
with  frozen  snow  and  rain,  and  it  presented  altogether  a  scene 
of  utter  desolation.  But  the  winter  of  his  own  heart  was  far 
more  bleak,  and  howling,  and  dreadful.  "  0  God !  have 
mercy  ! "  was,  for  a  length  of  time,  the  extent  of  his  prayer. 
Words  were  a  poor  relief  to  his  burdened  heart  and  shattered 
reason.  His  homeward  ride  was  a  journey  into  the  hopeless 
depth  of  a  polar  winter,  no  more  to  greet  the  land  of  bloom, 
beauty  and  hope.  "  I  am  doomed, —  doomed  ! "  this  was  all 
he  could  utter.  His  dream  of  bliss  had  ended  in  the  rugged 
reality  of  pain  and  despair.  He  wrote  many  letters,  to  learn 
the  location  of  Harcourt  and  daughter,  to  all  of  which  the 
answer  was,  "We  know  positively  nothing;"  except  the  one 


168  MAPLETON;    OR, 

addressed  to  Skampton,  which  was  never  answered.  He 
examined  the  published  record  of  passengers  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, thinking  they  might  have  gone  abroad ;  but  could  meet 
with  no  such  names.  An  impassable  gulf  was  between  him 
and  his  dearest  earthly  hopes,  across  which  no  carrier  pigeon 
brought  him  a  word  of  intelligence.  And  what  added  intens- 
ity to  his  sufferings  was  the  suspicion  of  its  being  altogether 
owing  to  the  reputation  of  his  father,  and  that  he  was  now 
beginning  to  realize  his  worst  fears  in  reference  to  the  disad- 
vantages of  his  social  position. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

CONSERVATISM   OF  THE   LIQUOR-TRAFFIC. 

"  Those  things  which  we  reverence  for  antiquity,  —  what  were  they  at 
their  first  birth  ?  Were  they  false  ?  —  time  cannot  make  them  true.  Were 
they  true  ?  — time  cannot  make  them  more  true.  The  circumstance,  there- 
fore, of  time,  in  respect  of  truth  and  error,  is  merely  impertinent."  — 
JOHN  HALES. 

THE  suspicions  of  Douglass  as  to  the  cause  of  the  Har- 
courts'  escape  were  not  only  well  founded,  but  it  had  been 
brought  about  by  the  man  who  had  done  most  of  all  to  seduce 
his  father  into  vice  again,  and  to  attaint  his  Mapleton  reputa- 
tion. The  man  who  had  held  the  cup  to  his  neighbor's  lips, 
in  spite  of  a  mother's  tears  and  entreaties,  was  the  first  to 
visit  the  consequent  disgrace  upon  her  children.  Not  con- 
tent with  the  ruin  of  parental  character,  he  proceeds,  with 
wanton  hand,  to  deprive  the  children  of  position  in  society, 
and  to  make  them  the  sufferers  for  deeds  in  their  father  of 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       169 

which  he  had  been  the  instigator.  How  can  society  longer 
tolerate  such  perfidy,  such  villany  ?  Soon  after  the  Spring 
Arbor  scene,  Gilfort  imparted  the  result  of  his  eavesdropping 
to  Skampton ;  and  the  latter  gentleman  took  sweet  revenge 
upon  his  refractory  dependant,  by  sending  the  following  let- 
ter to  Harcourt : 

"  SIR:  I  understand  that  a  young  man  by  the  name  of 
Douglass  is  attentive  to  your  daughter.  I  know  him  well ; 
and  deem  it  my  duty,  as  a  friend,  to  inform  you  that  he  is  a 
worthless  fellow.  Besides,  his  father  is  a  drunkard. 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"MICHAEL  SKAMPTON." 

How  characteristic  is  this  fact !  The  drunkard- maker 
visiting  his  own  work  upon  an  unoffending  family !  Those 
who  had  wept  bitter  tears  over  the  infamy  of  a  father,  com- 
pelled to  suffer  over  the  same  in  their  own  persons,  and  that, 
too,  by  the  very  authors  of  this  infamy !  Wisconsin  has 
passed  the  just  law  of  imposing  all  charges  for  the  support  of 
criminals  and  paupers,  made  so  by  intoxicating  drinks,  upon 
those  who  deal  in  the  article.  But  this  is  not  enough.  The 
infamy,  as  well  as  the  pecuniary  loss,  belongs  to  them,  and 
they  ought  to  be  made  to  bear  it.  Why  should  this  most 
grievous  of  all  burdens  be  imposed  upon  the  wife  and  chil- 
dren of  the  drunkard,  who  have  already  suffered  so  much  1 

Herein  society  is  utterly  at  fault.  Those  whom  it  exposes 
to  the  danger  of  fighting  its  battles  it  honors  and  pensions. 
Their  wounds  are  honorable,  and  their  death  glorious.  Their 
wives  and  children  too  are  pensioned,  and  admitted  to  a  distin- 
guished position.  Processions  are  instituted  to  their  honor, 
and  their  names  are  emblazoned  to  posterity  on  monumental 
15 


170  MAPLETON;  OR, 

marble.  But  how  does  society  deal  with  chose  whom  it 
exposes  to  the  greater  danger  of  the  licensed  liquor-traffic  ? 
Alas !  their  wounds  are  plague-spots,  to  warn  all  to  escape 
them  who  can.  The  bloated,  crimsoned  face,  the  blood-shot 
eye,  the  trembling,  tottering  step,  the  filthy,  squalid  dress, 
and  the  relics  of  a  night  in  the  gutter, —  these  wounds  and 
mementoes  of  the  alcoholic  war,  which  society  has  waged  by 
its  law  of  license, —  are  they  illustrious?  Are  they  honored 
by  pension,  place,  position?  Are  they  a  passport,  in  the 
drunkard's  family,  to  distinguished  society  ?  No,  no !  the 
drunkard's  only  procession  is  a  retinue  of  constables,  bailiffs 
and  police-officers,  conducting  him  to  prison.  His  children 
are  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  his  wife  to  the  poor-house ;  and 
none  so  poor  or  so  mean  as  to  do  them  reverence.  0,  unjust 
and  cruel  society !  why  this  disparity  in  the  treatment  of 
those  whom  your  laws  expose  to  danger  ?  Is  it  that  men  are 
free  to  buy  or  not  buy  in*  your  licensed  hells  ?  But  are  they 
not  equally  free  to  fight  or  not  fight  your  battles  ?  Is  it 
that  the  danger  of  your  hells  is  less  than  that  of  your  embat- 
tled legions  ?  Directly  the  contrary  is  the  fact.  The  United 
States  sacrifices  the  lives  of  thirty  thousand  drunkards  annu- 
ally in  the  alcoholic  war,  which  it  has  never  done  in  any  of 
its  sanguinary  conflicts.  The  danger  to  which  our  liquor- 
laws  expose  men  is  ten-fold  greater  than  that  of  national  war- 
fare. And  yet  we  leave  the  memory  of  the  drunkard  to  rot, 
while  that  of  a  fallen  hero  is  emblazoned  to  all  ages.  The 
landlord  turns  out  his  drunken  customer  to  die  in  the  streets, 
and  refuses  his  children  an  equal  position  with  those  whose 
parents  denied  him  their  patronage  !  Such  is  the  justice  of 
our  present  liquor-laws  and  drinking-customs  ! 

While  poor  Douglass  is  writhing  under  the  infliction  of 
this  lordly  rum-factor,  how  distinguished  his  position  !     His 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       171 

enormous  gains,  especially  since  the  temperance  movement 
had  diminished  the  number  of  rum-dealers  and  increased  the 
profits  of  the  poisonous  traffic,  might  be  seen  in  the  splen- 
dor with  which  Skampton  had  surrounded  himself.  He  had 
selected  for  his  home  the  right  bank  of  one  of  our  most  pic- 
turesque and  renowned  rivers,  in  the  little  town  of  Riverton, 
which  lies  so  near  one  of  our  large  cities  as  to  be  a  suburb, — 
a  delightful  one  too.  He  had  purchased  a  woodland  domain 
of  many  hundred  acres,  near  the  centre  of  which  he  had 
built  his  palace,  surrounded  by  conservatories,  gardens  and 
pleasure-grounds.  A  massy  gate  and  lodge,  with  bell  so 
contrived  as  to  be  rung  by  the  approach  of  a  carriage,  to 
warn  the  porter  to  be  on  hand,  were  an  index  to  the  sump- 
tuous scene.  The  gate  passed,  the  visitor  found  himself  on 
a  macadamized  carriage-way,  which  wound  round  and  round 
through  a  deeply-shaded  ravine,  rising  upward  and  still  up- 
ward, enclosed  on  either  hand  by  forest-crowned  elevations 
and  a  carpeting  of  greensward,  which  droves  of  deer  were 
quietly  cropping,  while  birds,  in  great  number  and  variety, 
were  singing  in  the  overhanging  branches.  This  way  term- 
inated in  an  undulating  surface  of  many  acres, —  a  sort  of 
mountain  terrace, —  on  which  the  house  and  its  appendages 
were  tastefully  arranged ;  and  then,  back  of  this  terrace,  the 
hill  reached  a  still  loftier  altitude,  on  which  an  observatory 
had  been  built,  commanding  a  wide  prospect  of  earth  and 
heaven.  Even  at  the  point  where  the  house  stood,  many 
miles  of  the  river,  with  its  infinite  variety  of  craft,  appeared 
in  perspective  like  a  vast  moving  panorama.  On  a  lower 
elevation,  in  the  far-off  view,  the  buildings  of  Riverton 
Seminary  might  be  seen,  on  which  Skampton  lavished  a  part 
of  his  surplus  income,  and  where  he  manufactured  young 
men  to  increase  the  stock  of  his  reputation  and  influence. 


172  MAPLETON;  OR, 

The  house  was  rural  and  beautiful  in  its  architecture,  and 
adapted  to  increase  the  general  effect.  First,  a  porch,  suited 
in  its  proportions  to  the  magnificent  structure ;  then  a  hall, 
broad,  long  and  lofty,  terminated  in  a  piazza  "with  fluted 
columns,  the  whole  breadth  of  the  house,  which  commanded 
a  view  of  the  river,  seminary,  and  a  wide  extent  of  rural 
scenery,  eminently  beautiful,  from  the  contrast  of  land  and 
water,  of  sails  and  houses,  of  steam-cars  and  steamboats,  of 
hill  and  dale,  of  field  and  forest,  and  of  city  and  country. 
Arranged  along  the  hall,  on  either  hand,  were  library,  par- 
lors, breakfast-room,  dining-room,  nursery,  and  other  recep- 
tacles of  convenience,  ornament  and  luxury.  The  second 
and  third  stories  were  in  keeping  with  the  first ;  the  house 
being  furnished  throughout  with  Wilton  carpets,  lofty  mirrors, 
costly  sofas,  divans  and .  chairs,  all  indicating  a  degree  of 
wealth  and  splendor  which  princes  might  envy.  The  first 
door  on  the  left  opened  out  of  the  hall  into  the  library,  with 
a  rich  collection  of  books,  prints,  paintings,  statuary,  and 
carved  work.  This  was  Skampton's  throne.  Here  he  con- 
trived his  plans  of  acquisition, —  here  he  studied  out  the 
most  successful  modes  of  profiting  by  human  infirmity ;  and 
it  ought  to  have  been  full  of  death-heads,  human  bones, 
bottled  tears  of  widowed  and  orphan  wretchedness,  paintings 
of  drunken  brawls  and  bloody  riots,  with  the  estimated 
profit  accruing  from  each  to  the  owner  written  underneath. 
Prominent  among  the  group  ought  to  have  appeared  the 
Genius  of  Intemperance,  with  Sir  Christopher  Wren's  monu- 
mental inscription: 

Si  monumentum  quseris, 
CircumSpice. 
4  If  you  ask  for  my  monument,  look  around  ! ' 

In  this  room  it  was  that  Gilfort  and  Skampton  met,  a  few 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  173 

weeks  after  the  concluding  events  of  the  foregoing  chapter, 
and  had  a  consultation  as  to  what  should  be  done  to  ward 
off  a  more  stringent  legislation  against  the  liquor  traffic. 
After  the  usual  salutations,  Skampton  inquired,  "Pray, 
Gilfort,  where  d'  ye  hail  from?" 

"  From  Terracegreen.  I  have  remained  there  ever  since  I 
wrote  you  last." 

"  Ay,  ay  !  and  had  an  eye,  I  hope,  to  the  lovers.  Pray, 
what  effect  had  my  letter? " 

"  Good,  good  !  It  was  the  right  medicine.  It  knocked 
the  disease  on  the  head.  It  saved  an  innocent  girl  from  the 
grasp  of  a  tiger,  and  laid  the  tiger  himself  sprawling.  I  saw 
him  before  I  left,  and  his  face  was  as  long  as  my  arm,  and 
black  as  thunder." 

"  How  so  ?     How  did  Harcourt  worst  the  fellow?" 

' '  By  the  better  part  of  valor ;  he  escaped.  He  swore 
he  'd  be  the  death  of  his  daughter,  before  she  should  marry 
a  drunkard's  son." 

"  What !  —  left  the  country?" 

"  The  country  of  this  fellow,  where  he  '11  see  him  no 
more." 

"  That  's  enough ;  it  's  all  I  ask.  I  am  thankful  that  I 
did  my  duty,  and  saved  an  innocent  family.  He  is  a  piece 
of  impertinence,  and  I  'd  sacrifice  every  cent  I  have  before 
I  'd  see  him  married  to  such  a  wife  as  Sarah  Harcourt.  How 
the  fool  could  think  to  succeed,  drunkard's  son  as  he  is, 
temperance  lecturer,  college  scapegrace,  expelled  for  bad 
conduct,  is  more  than  I  can  divine.  His  teetotal  pledge  is 
enough  to  wind  him  up,  with  a  man  of  Harcourt's  spirit." 

"  Yes,  Harcourt  despises  him.  I  stated  to  him  the  facts 
in  my  possession,  and  his  mettle  ran  high,  that  the  rascal 
should  presume  so  far.  But  he  is  so  controlled  by  his 
15* 


174  MAPLETON;    OB, 

daughter  that  he  did  nothing  till  your  letter  came ;  and 
then  he  was  off  in  a  trice,  and  is  to  be  seen  there  no  more." 

"  That  is  a  good  fellow,  Gilfort,  and  entitles  you  to  a  bottle 
of  champagne."  Rings,  and  a  servant  enters.  "  Sambo, 
bring  me  a  bottle  of  our  best." 

"To  be  sure,  massa,  de  berry  best, —  dat  any  gemman  '11 
say,"  replied  Sambo,  hastening  after  the  champagne,  and 
soon  reappearing,  with  bottle  in  hand. 

"Here,  Gilfort,  drink, —  drink  freely;  you  need  it,  after 
BO  much  fatigue." 

"With  you,  sir." 

"  No,  no,  Gilfort,  you  know  I  never  drink.  I  know  the 
best,  as  well  as  any  man ;  it  don't  agree  with  me ;  we  are 
differently  constituted  ;  I  never  drink." 

"What! — yoked  to  this  cut-throat  pledge?"  said  Gil- 
fort,  drinking. 

"Don't  insult  me  by  such  a  question.  I  should  be  in 
chains  with  that  fanatical  device.  What  madness  has  seized 
upon  the  people?  Just  as  if  we  are  wiser  than  the  hun- 
dreds of  generations  which  have  preceded  us,  who  never 
dreamed  of  its  being  criminal  to  take  a  social  glass !  I  would 
drink,  for  there  is  good  cheer  in  't,  but  it  always  gives  me  a 
thumping  head-ache,  and  unfits  me  for  anything." 

"  Well,  I  am  thankful  it  has  the  contrary  effect  upon  me. 
My  head  is  always  clearest,  and  my  heart  always  best,  with  a 
little  wine  in 't.  If  I  wished  to  think  deeply,  feel  profoundly, 
pray  sincerely,  act  coolly,  bargain  skilfully,  and  do  anything 
effectively,  it  would  be  with  bottle  in  hand,"  he  added,  drink- 
ing off  another  glass. 

"By  the  way,  we  are  getting  a  haul  out  of  our  Falls 
tract." 

"Yes,  we  are  just  approaching  the  harvest.      We  have 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  175 

had,  hitherto,  only  the  premature  ears,  hardly  a  specimen  of 
what  is  to  follow.  We  have  there  a  large  village  growing 
into  a  city.  One  object  I  have  this  way  is,  to  blow  up  our 
lots  in  the  Eastern  market.  To  furnish  myself  with  wind,  I 
set  the  bellows  in  motion  before  I  left.  I  got  up  a  perfect 
rage  for  buying.  I  sold  the  Lion  Corner,  the  other  day, 
for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  took  pains  to  have  it  purchased 
of  the  buyer,  the  day  following,  for  twenty  thousand,  and 
the  day  following  that  for  thirty  thousand ;  and  that  is  a 
specimen  of  how  things  go." 

"  You  made  a  loss,  then,  by  selling  so  low?" 
"No,  not  I.  I  see  you  don't  understand  the  game. 
Nothing  was  paid  me,  and  nothing  to  those  who  sold  after 
me.  Money  is  not  necessary  to  get  rich  in  this  way.  I  was 
never  so  confounded  hard  up  as  now.  But,  then,  we  shall 
reap  a  harvest  in  the  end.  These  sales,  which  I  have  had 
duly  certified,  will  tell  on  Wall-street.  The  property  is  not 
alienated  from  us  by  means  of  them,  for  the  right  of  soil  is 
secured  to  us  by  mortgage.  We  have  a  clear  title ;  and 
when  the  last  purchaser  fails,  it  '11  come  back  upon  the  next 
to  him,  and  the  next,  till  it  falls  again  into  our  hands,  with  all 
its  improvements.  And,  by  that  time,  capitalists  abroad  will 
be  induced  to  invest  among  us,  and  a  flow  of  gold  will  set  in 
upon  our  city,  that  cannot  fail  to  find  its  way  into  our  pockets, 
as  the  great  reservoir.  This  is  between  us." 

"My  affairs  are  vastly  extended,  Gilfort;  I  must  have 
funds  out  of  the  concern,  or  I  shall  kick  the  bucket.  If  this 
cursed  liquor-law  should  succeed,  I  'm  a  dead  man.  Then 
my  capital  goes  to  the  gutter,  and  I  to  bankruptcy.  My 
public  houses  will  become  sheep-cotes;  my  ships  in  the  liquor- 
trade  will  rot  at  the  wharves ;  my  distillery- worm  will  cease 
its  flow ;  my  enormous  charities  will  vanish  into  air ;  and  I, 


176  MAPLETON;    OR, 

a  stranded  whale,  shall  be  the  prey  of  crows  and  harpies. 
This  is  between  you  and  me,  as  you  say." 

"  That 's  the  point,  the  exact  point,  upon  which  I  have 
come  to  talk.  First,  we  must  blow  up  our  lots  in  the  market. 
Then  for  the  battle  on  the  liquor-bill.  Your  legislature  meets 
here  soon,  and  the  contest  comes  on  in  due  form,  and  we  must 
be  ready  for  it.  That  madcap  Bludgeon  is  setting  the  state 
all  on  fire  against  us,  and  is  to  begin  his  onset  here  the  first 
of  March.  We  must  be  ready  to  knock  him  in  head.  If 
the  liquor-bill  succeeds  here,  it  will  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  then  it  will  over-leap  the  Mississippi  and  invade  my 
colony,  where  I  am  manufacturing  the  article  on  a  large  scale. 
This  done,  and  I  might  whistle  for  emigrants ;  for  the  great 
attraction,  to  those  who  are  annoyed  by  this  Maine  legislation, 
is  our  freedom  to  make,  sell  and  drink,  what  we  please.  If 
•we  do  not  gain  the  battle  here,  we  lose  it  everywhere  else." 

"  Well,  what  do  you  propose? " 

"  I  propose  that  we  send  out  agents  enough  to  array  on 
our  side  all  the  wealth,  talent  and  power,  which  we  can.  possi- 
bly command.  Then,  that  we  have  here  in  your  city  a  con- 
sultation of  the  principles,  arguments,  measures  and  influences, 
to  be  used  with  the  legislature  to  defeat  this  Maine  law.  This 
should  take  place  as  early  as  February,  to  be  ready  for  the 
Bludgeon  tornado.  And  then,  during  his  campaign,  let  our 
ablest  speakers  be  employed,  to  hold  counter-meetings,  to 
divert  public  attention,  and  to  pour  their  hot  shot  upon  his 
camp.  With  these  plans  duly  carried  out,  we  shall  array  on 
our  side  an  extent  of  prejudice,  passion  and  interest,  that 
must  insure  success." 

"  A  capital  idea,  and  I  have  with  me  the  man  to  head  the 
agency.  Mr.  Saphead  can  drum  up  more  people  in  a  given 
time  than  any  man  I  know.  Sambo,  go  call  Mr.  Saphead." 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  177 

This  gentleman  soon  appeared,  very  much  out  of  breath,  for 
the  good  reason  that  inward  fat  had  nearly  deprived  him  of 
breathing  capacity.  He  was  a  man  five  feet  six,  and  greater 
in  circumference  than  in  height.  His  gait  was  like  that  of  a 
duck  in  the  mud.  We  sometimes  say  of  a  man  that  he  is  the 
breath  of  another.  But  breathing  denotes  continuity,  which 
Saphead  had  not.  He  was  rather  the  puff  of  Skampton, 
which  he  blew  off  occasionally  to  serve  a  purpose.  Saphead 
was  the  generalissimo  of  all  enterprises  requiring  money  and 
action ;  Skampton  supplying  the  one  and  he  the  other,  so  that 
the  two  together  were  the  parts  of  a  pair  of  shears, —  and  a 
keener  instrument  never  fleeced  the  public. 

"  Saphead,  such  and  such  are  Mr.  Gilfort's  plans,"  said 
Skampton,  detailing  to  him  the  particulars.  "  What  do  you 
think  ?  " 

"I  think  two  wiser  heads  do  not  rest  on  shoulders,  and 
what  you  approve  I  go  for,"  said  Saphead,  with  labored 
breathing. 

"  You  deserve  a  drop  for  that,"  said  Gilfort,  pouring  out 
a  glass  of  champagne,  which  Saphead  swallowed  with  a  gusto, 
it  put  life  into  his  sluggish  corporosity. 

' (  You  will  then  undertake  to  drum  up  recruits  for  the 
Campaign  in  February  and  March,  will  you,  Mr.  Saphead?  " 
said  Skampton. 

" I  will,  sir.  I'll  go  first  to  all  the  liquor-dealers,  and  get 
a  large  subscription ;  for  it 's  money  makes  the  mare  go. 
Then,  I  'd  get  every  conservative  man's  influence  on  our  side ; 
I  mean  yours,  as  you  are  men  skilled  in  all  matters  of  law 
and  legislation.  They  '11  go  for  us,  to  a  man.  Then  all  the 
liquor-drinkers  —  a  numerous  host  —  will  bring  up  the  rear, 
with  their  petitions,  to  scare  the  dough-faces  into  a  vote  on 
the  right  side." 


178  MAPLETON;  OR, 

"You  understand  the  thing,  Saphead,"  said  Skampton. 
"  We  shall  need  a  large  subscription  to  buy  over  the  papers." 

At  that  moment  the  door-bell  rang,  and  Peter  Pegan,  Esq., 
a  conservative  editor  of  distinction,  was  ushered  in.  "  Just  in 
time,  Mr.  Pegan,"  added  Skampton,  detailing  the  several 
features  of  the  plan.  "  Can  we  rely  upon  your  able  and  influ- 
ential journal?" 

"  That 's  the  very  object  of  my  coming,"  said  Pegan,  with 
an  involuntary  twist  of  his  meagre  person.  "  The  battle 
waxes  hotter  and  hotter.  I  have  just  heard  that  Bludgeon 
has  set  the  north  and  west  of  the  state  all  in  a  flame.  They 
have  already  begun  to  empty  the  liquor-casks  by  mob  vio- 
lence, and  are  confident  of  being  sustained  in  their  van- 
dalism by  the  coming  legislature.  I  am  prepared  to  lead  off 
with  all  my  power  in  favor  of  law  and  order ;  and  have  come 
to  put  you  on  your*guard,  and  to  request  you  to  rally  as  many 
as  you  can  to  my  help." 

"  You  see,  my  good  Pegan,"  said  Skampton,  "  we  have 
anticipated  you." 

"  Yes,  I  go  to  New  York  this  very  night,"  added  Saphead. 
"I'll  kindle  in  the  great  metropolis  a  counter-flame,  which 
will  consume  Bludgeon  and  all  his  combustion." 

"I'll  keep  my  host  here  to  assail  the  coming  members  of 
both  houses,"  said  Gilfort. 

"  And  I  '11  help  you,"  added  Skampton. 

Who  has  not  remarked  the  conflict  of  the  conservative 
principle  with  the  genius  of  change  ?  The  Old  cannot  main- 
tain her  hold  without  resisting  the  encroachments  of  the  New; 
and  the  New  cannot  rise  except  on  the  ruins  of  the  Old. 
The  one  looks  with  jealous  concern  on  her  time-hallowed 
prerogatives ;  while  the  other,  bearing  on  her  bold  front  the 
motto  of  utter  demolition,  finds  in  the  antiquity  of  a  thing 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  179 

sufficient  reason  for  beginning  her  work  of  destruction.  The 
one  would  chain  the  future  within  the  limits  of  the  past ;  the 
other  would  drive  the  triumphal  car  of  change  over  all  that 
is  guilty  of  an  origin  prior  to  her  own. 

These  conflicts  must  go  on.  There  is  no  avoiding  them. 
We  can  dispense  with  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  of  the 
belligerent  powers.  The  one  is  as  necessary  to  guard  what- 
ever is  valuable  in  the  past,  as  the  other  to  introduce  improve- 
ments. Neither  the  forms  of  society,  nor  the  maxims  of 
legislation,  nor  the  institutions  of  civil  government,  nor  creeds 
in  religion,  nor  the  conceptions  of  virtue  and  obligation,  nor 
the  arts  and  sciences,  nor  anything,  in  fact,  which  at  all  depends 
upon  the  faculties  of  man,  is  too  perfect  to  admit  of  improve- 
ment. To  rectify  present  defects  is  as  necessary  as  the  pre- 
servation of  what  is  excellent. 

But,  unfortunately,  the  conservative  principle  often  protects 
the  evil,  as  well  as  the  good.  It  is  as  tenacious  of  slavery  as  of 
liberty,  and  of  a  traffic  which  corrupts  mankind  as  of  one  which 
has  proved  itself  the  most  harmless  and  beneficent.  She  is  a 
blind,  imperious,  and  blood-thirsty  divinity,  whose  temple  is 
prejudice,  whose  altar  malignity,  and  whose  victims  are  the 
greatest  and  best  of  mankind.  The  Son  of  God  himself,  with 
his  self-denying  associates,  and  the  martyred  reformers,  as 
well  as  Socrates,  Seneca,  and  a  long  line  of  kindred  spirits, 
forced  to  her  shrine,  have  died  to  appease  her  inexorable  ven- 
geance. And  the  genius  of  change  is  scarcely  less  arbitrary 
and  blood-thirsty.  A  despotism  is  demolished  to  make  way 
for  anarchy  and  misrule.  The  feudal  tyrannies  are  sup- 
planted by  the  Bonapartean  thrones,  standing  amid  the  blood 
and  carnage  of  slaughtered  millions ;  the  virtues  of  defect  are 
followed  by  those  of  excess,  as  the  miser  is  merged  in  the 
voluptuary ;  and  thus  innovation  is  as  reckless  as  conserva- 


180  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

tism  is  cruel  and  relentless.  Yet  change  must  go  on.  Wise 
and  good  men  should  understand  this,  and  take  the  lead  in  it, 
instead  of  leaving  it  to  the  intemperate  and  the  lawless. 

In  reference  to  Skampton,  as  a  faithful  historian  we  are 
bound  to  say  that  his  great  error  was  his  ultra  conservatism. 
He  was  not  inherently  cruel,  nor  excessively  avaricious,  nor 
capable  of  an  out-and-out  fraud ;  and,  as  to  the  government 
of  his  own  appetites,  no  man  could  be  more  rigorous.  But 
he  was  so  wedded  to  all  existing  opinions  and  usages,  as  to 
feel  that  those  who  rose  up  against  them  were  enemies  to 
society,  and  to  be  dealt  with  as  such.  When  poor  Mrs. 
Douglass  besought  him  to  interfere  to  turn  away  the  cup 
from  her  husband's  lips,  he  felt  that  she  was  some  way  linked 
with  the  temperance  innovations,  and  was  to  be  treated  as  a 
disturber  of  the  public  tranquillity.  Her  son's  temperance 
efforts  while  in  college  exposed  him,  also,  to  the  same  feeling, 
and  led  Skampton  to  exercise  against  him  the  arbitrary  power 
to  which  his  position  and  enormous  gratuities  entitled  him. 
And,  as  Charles  could  not  be  brought  to  his  standard,  he  must 
be  hurled  into  the  abyss  of  infamy  which  his  contumacious 
treatment  of  so  great  a  benefactor  deserved.  Hence,  the 
ambition  of  arbitrary  control,  natural  to  a  weak  mind  which 
had  so  many  things  to  bolster  up  its  pretensions  to  power, 
stands  side  by  side  with  ultra  conservatism,  as  the  key  to 
Skampton's  character.  We  say  these  things  in  favor  of  the 
man,  under  the  full  impression  that  in  nothing  is  history  so 
much  at  fault  as  in  revealing  motives,  and  in  its  inquiries  after 
the  ruling  passions  of  the  great  actors  in  the  world's  drama. 

Besides,  the  early  life  of  Skampton  was  full  of  mitigating 
facts,  to  soften  the  shading  of  his  character.  He  was  born  in 
a  mountain  defile  of  the  ancient  town  of  Undercliff,  on  a  farm 
wedged  in  by  inaccessible  ledges,  on  which  his  ancestors, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.      181 

from  the  early  time  of  the  colonies,  had  sustained  a  preca- 
rious subsistence.  He  inherited  their  staidness,  early  became 
a  member  of  their  church,  was  scrupulous  in  little  things 
but  careless  of  great  ones,  and  was  as  averse  to  expansion  as 
the  rock-bound  farm  on  which  he  was  raised.  The  deacon, 
his  father,  ruled  the  church,  minister  and  all,  or  rather  his 
wife  ruled  it  through  him  ;  for  the  Mercury,  or  rather  Mars, 
was  all  on  her  side.  Michael  was  vulgarly  called  the  tell-tale 
of  the  school  under  Master  Tody,  who  early  conceived  a  pas- 
sion for  him,  and  made  him  his  right-hand  man.  The  more 
Master  Tody  loved  him,  the  more  his  school-fellows  hated 
him  ;  and  the  more  they  hated  him,  the  more  Mrs.  Skampton 
and  Master  Tody  thought  he  was  a  genius ;  and  tKe  more  they 
thought  so,  the  more  they  told  him  so.  Hence  Michael  began 
life  under  circumstances  to  insure  in  him  a  false  estimate  of 
himself  and  of  everything  around  him. 

Through  the  persuasions  of  Mrs.  Skampton  and  Master 
Tody,  the  deacon  was  compelled,  against  his  will,  to  send 
Michael  abroad,  to  try  the  fortunes  of  literature.  But  the 
thing  would  not  go.  Michael  would  strike  his  head  furiously 
with  his  fist,  to  drive  in  a  thought,  or  to  make  it  stick  after 
he  got  it  in.  But  the  recreant  thought  would  escape  him, 
after  all.  He  plodded  on  a  few  years  in  this  way,  till  it  was 
found  tha*  dulness  is  a  disease  not  easily  cured,  when  he 
was  put  to  business,  in  which  he  acquitted  himself  more  cred- 
itably. Fortune,  of  which  he  was  always  a  favorite,  perpe- 
trated one  of  those  freaks  upon  him  which  introduced  him 
into  a  widely  different  field  from  what  he  had  a  right  to 
expect.  A  maternal  uncle  of  wealth,  dying  in  the  West 
Indies,  left  the  bulk  of  his  property  to  young  Skampton. 
To  this  he  added  still  more  by  his  marriage.  Hence  he  had 
at  once  large  sums  to  invest,  which  he  prudently  distributed 
16 


182  MAPLETON;   OB, 

among  a  variety  of  objects  that  brought  large  returns.  From 
the  silks  of  Broadway  to  the  whales  of  Kamtschatka,  from 
lots  in  the  city  to  the  new  lands  of  the  West,  from  the  sump- 
tuous hotel  to  the  humblest  groggery,  all  shared  his  attention, 
and  supplied  the  rills  of  his  wealth.  His  preference  for  the 
liquor  business  was  always  decided, —  not  so  much  on  ac- 
count of  its  profits,  as  his  desire  to  maintain  a  great  principle, 
•which  had  been  acknowledged  from  Noah's  wine- press  to  this 
day,  he  said,  but  was  now  assailed  and  invaded  by  these  fanat- 
ical temperance  innovations.  His  wealth  had  grown  upon 
him,  till  his  annual  income  had  risen  to  thirty  or  forty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

Still,  Skampton  was  moderate,  lived  with  simplicity,  was 
as  unassuming  as  one  under  his  circumstances  could  well  be ; 
and  his  homestead  investment  was  made  more  with  reference, 
he  said,  to  the  rise  in  its  value,  and  the  greater  means  he 
should  thus  have  in  the  end  to  do  good  with,  than  to  any  ideas 
of  personal  luxury  or  splendor.  What  had  done  most  of  all 
to  delude  and  debase  him  was  his  falling  into  the  hands  of 
flatterers,  who  desired  to  divide  with  him  the  spoils  of  his 
wealth.  A  man  with  money  is  like  a  king  in  the  midst  of 
his  courtiers, —  befooled  for  the  public  good.  He  was  never 
approached  save  with  hat  under  arm  and  head  doing  obei- 
sance, and  was  daily  surrounded  by  a  class  of  men  who  sought 
money  from  him  for  this,  that,  and  the  other  charity ;  and 
who,  to  accomplish  their  purpose,  would  make  him  believe 
that  the  hope  of  the  world,  in  these  days  of  innovation,  was 
wrapped  up  in  him  and  in  his  purse.  A  mind  weak,  preju- 
diced and  compressed,  like  that  of  Skampton,  was  just  the 
one  to  drink  down  the  delicious  bane,  and  suffer  from  it  the 
worst  imaginable  consequences.  He  was  liberal,  and  gave 
very  largely ;  but  manifestly  not  as  a  gratuity,  at  least  in 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       183 

the  feeling  and  motive  by  which  it  was  dictated,  but  to  buy 
influence,  and  create  in  as  many  as  possible  the  obligation  to 
do  and  think  as  he  wished,  and  to  bow  down  to  his  over- 
whelming power.  Other  rich  men  invested  to  bring  a  return 
in  kind;  but  he,  in  reputation  and  influence.  The  social 
supremacy  of  the  Honorable  Michael  Skampton  cost  him 
thousands  a  year.  How  much  more  a  gift  is  money  thus 
bestowed  than  in  buying  lands  or  stocks  ?  It  was  the  sys- 
tem of  coercion  which  he  employed  with  young  men  depend- 
ent on  his  bounty  that  involved  him  in  a  quarrel  with  Charles 
Douglass.  That  young  gentleman  had  too  much  spirit  to 
submit  to  his  dictation,  and  too  much  reason  to  detest  his 
alcoholic  traffic  to  receive  his  benefactions. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

WINE  AND  WITCHCRAFT. 

"  Be  't  whiskey  gill,  or  penny-wheep, 

Or  any  stronger  potion, 
It  never  fails,  on  drinking  deep, 
To  kittle  up  our  notion, 

By  night  or  day."  —  BURNS. 

"  For,  if  the  devil  may  form  what  kind  of  impression  he  pleases  in  the 
air,  why  may  he  not  far  easier  thicken  and  obscure  so  the  ait  that  is  about 
them,  by  contracting  it  straight  together,  that  the  beams  of  any  other 
man's  eyes  cannot  pierce  through  the  same  to  see  them?"  —  KING 
JAMES  I. 

THE  parties  in  consultation  at  once  set  about  their  work. 
Pegan's  columns  flamed  with  articles  against  the  Maine  law. 
A  hundred  inferior  sheets  lighted  their  censers  at  his  altar. 


184  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

Dolorous  waitings  resounded  on  every  hand  against  oppres- 
sion, invasion  of  the  rights  of  trade,  the  folly  of  decreeing 
•what  a  man  shall  drink,  the  impossibility  of  carrying  out 
such  a  bill,  priestly  interference,  malignant  fanaticism,  legis- 
lating against  all  precedent  since  Noah  began  the  wine  busi- 
ness, the  ruin  of  fortunes  to  those  whom  the  present  laws  had 
drawn  into  the  liquor  traffic,  conflict  with  constitutional  law 
which  entitles  a  man  to  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers,  and 
much  more  in  the  same  line.  Peal  after  peal  of  Pegan  thun- 
der resounded  through  the  land,  reverberating  from  hill  to 
valley,  and  from  mountain  to  plain.  The  gathering  law- 
makers were  taken  all  aback,  and  dared  not  move  to  the 
right  or  left,  at  the  peril  of  their  popularity.  Those  who  had 
obtained  their  election  by  the  pledge  to  support  the  Maine 
law  could  not  stand  against  this  volleyed  thunder  of  Pegan' s 
pen,  and  covered  themselves  from  danger  under  silence, 
absence,  or  any  subterfuge  they  could  invent.  Meantime, 
Saphead  had  swelled  his  golden  accumulation  to  many  thou- 
sands, at  the  expense  of  the  liquor-dealers,  to  flood  the  coun- 
try with  documents,  to  hire  public-sentiment  makers  to  exer- 
cise their  function  all  abroad,  and  to  buy  influejjce  in  any 
form  under  which  it  might  be  offered  in  the  market.  Skamp- 
ton  plied  his  arts  of  personal  suasion  with  the  members  of 
the  legislature  in  detail,  and  did  most  effective  execution  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  Bludgeon  and  his  host  waxed  hotter 
and  hotter,  more  and  more  numerous  and  powerful,  and  both 
the  Senate  and  Assembly  were  deluged  with  petitions  in  be- 
half of  the  Maine  Law,  which  they  dared  not  grant,  and  yet 
feared  to  resist.  They  were  literally  toads  under  a  harrow, 
not  knowing  which  way  to  hop. 

Necessity  knows  no  law.     This  poor  Gilfort  found,  to  his 
cost.     He  desired  to  lead  off  his  division,  and  stand  foremost 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       185 

in  the  impending  battle,  but  lacked  the  sinews  of  war  — 
money.  The  funds  he  brought  from  the  far  West  were  gone. 
His  late  windy  speculations  yielded  no  supplies.  There  were 
delicate  considerations  against  looking  either  to  Skampton  or 
Saphead,  in  this  exigency.  The  former  gentleman  he  knew 
was  hard  up,  and  to  draw  on  the  latter's  purse  would  be  sub- 
mitting to  a  charity  pension.  No,  no  ;  he  must  appeal  to  his 
wits,  which,  when  duly  sharpened  by  the  "  0,  be  joyful,"  had 
never  failed  to  coin  the  needful  out  of  something,  or  nothing. 
He  had  lodgings  a  little  out  of  the  city  with  one  of  his  creat- 
ures. He  never  failed  to  have  around  him  this  kind  of  ani- 
mals, —  a  class  of  men  to  whose  conscience  ho  was  the  all-in- 
all,  and  whom  he  could  rely  upon  for  any  dirty  service  to 
which  he  might  send  them.  His  host  was  as  destitute  of  the 
needful  as  himself ;  but  another  man  near  by, —  a  Dutchman, 
by  the  name  of  Roderick  Dobson,  who  had  once  been  one  of 
his  creatures,  but  had  fallen  away  through  an  over-love  of 
managing  his  own  purse,  instead  of  leaving  it  for  Gilfort  to 
finger, —  he  knew  abounded  in  money. 

Gilfort,  therefore,  applied  to  Dobson  for  the  favor  of  a 
loan,  proposing  to  secure  him  with  his  Falls  property,  or  in 
any  way  he  should  ask.  "I  an't  able,  anyhow,  to  give  you 
the  money,"  said  Dobson,  with  a  grin  which  revealed  a 
sparse  supply  of  teeth,  and  a  shrug  of  his  round,  Dutch 
shoulders,  which  betrayed  the  strength  of  his  hold  upon  the 
fruit  of  his  labor. 

"What!  ten  per  cent,  and  good  security  nothing  to  you, 
Dobson  ?  Your  money,  at  that  rate,  will  earn  more  than  you 
can." 

"  It  arns  more  in  my  hand,  where  I  sees  it,  and  knows 
where  it  is." 

"  Well,  if  you  won't  accommodate  me,  I  '11  render  good  for 
16* 


186  MAPLETON ;    OR; 

evil,  and  pay  you  off  with  a  drink  of  capital  whiskey,  just 
sent  me  from  my  distillery  in  the  west,"  said  Gilfort,  taking 
out  of  his  pocket  a  little  bottle  full  of  the  intoxicating  poi- 
son. Dobson's  eyes  glistened  at  the  sight,  for  he  was  a  man 
given  to  strong  drink,  though  too  covetous  to  indulge  in  it 
unless  at  another's  expense.  He  took  the  bottle,  and,  holding 
it  to  his  mouth  with  his  head  turned  back,  he  quaffed  a  heavy 
dram.  This  he  repeated  again  and  again,  till  the  leaping  blood 
"  put  life  and  mettle  in  his  heels  ;  "  and  he  fell  to  dancing 
right  merrily,  as  if  penury  and  plenty,  little  and  much,  were 
all  alike  to  him.  Gilfort  was  now  confident  of  success,  and 
renewed  his  suit  for  the  loan.  But  Dobson's  fists  were  more 
firmly  clenched  than  ever.  He  was  one  of  those  rare  cases 
in  which  drunkenness  makes  a  man  more  rabid  after  money, 
and  more  careful  in  keeping  it.  Nothing  could  be  got  out 
of  him  at  such  times.  Gilfort  failed  altogether. 

But  he  was  not  a  man  to  give  up  a  thing  so  easily.  He 
thought  and  thought  how  he  should  help  himself  to  money 
out  of  Dobson's  stores.  He  conned  over  the  subject  at 
night;  he  whetted  his  faculties  with  "wine  and  wassail;" 
—  but  it  was  not  till  after  the  most  agonized  mental  throes, 
that,  starting  up  at  midnight,  he  exclaimed,  "I  have  it !  — I 
have  it!  Dobson  is  superstitious,  and  I  '11  pull  that  string. 
I  '11  scare  the  old  miser  out  of  his  money.  I  '11  haunt  him  by 
day  and  by  night.  I  '11  fill  his  chamber  with  ghosts  and  dev- 
ils. Sleep  shall  not  press  his  eyelids  till  he  has  disgorged 
his  hoarded  wealth.  The  Lord  hath  need  of  it.  I  am  the 
Lord's  servant.  I  have  great  interests  at  stake.  So  many 
thousands  in  the  far  West  who  worship  me  as  a  divinity,  and 
the  number  constantly  increasing, —  what  a  responsibility  ! 
I  must  consult  their  interest.  I  must  uphold  truth,  and 
break  down  this  pagan  priesthood.  I  should  have  a  right  to 


MORE  WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  187 

this  old  apostate's  money,  even  if  I  never  paid  him ;  but  that 
I  can  and  will  do,  at  my  convenience.  What  good  can  it  do 
him  to  lie  rusting  in  his  coffers  ?  It  will  be  a  mercy  to  him, 
to  me  and  to  mankind,  to  relieve  him  of  it." 

So  soliloquized  Gilfort,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  not  in  vain  ; 
for,  with  all  Dobson's  avarice  and  drunkenness,  he  was  a 
great  believer  in  witches,  spooks,  incantations  and  invisible 
agencies,  insomuch  that  he  never  rested  without  the  protec- 
tion of  horse-shoes  nailed  to  his  door-sill,  which  many  igno- 
rant people  suppose  a  witch  cannot  pass.  Having  hit  upon 
his  plan,  Gilfort  penned  the  following  blasphemous  missive : 

"  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  To  my  servant,  Eoderick 
Dobson,  these  presents  come,  to  command  thee,  Roderick 
Dobson,  to  deliver  over,  for  my  use  and  behoof,  the  sum  of 
two  thousand  dollars,  the  same  to  be  deposited  under  the 
bridge  near  thy  house,  towards  the  sun-rising,  by  the  tenth 
day  of  the  first  month,  before  the  cock  goeth  forth  of  his 
roost,  or  men  to  their  labor.  And,  in  default  hereof,  blight 
and  mildew  shall  come  upon  all  thou  hast,  rottenness  shall 
waste  the  flesh  from  thy  bones,  thy  children  shall  be  killed 
with  death,  and  all  the  devils  in  hell  shall  wreak  their  infer- 
nal malice  upon  thy  soul.  In  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah, 
by  his  SERVANT." 

This  letter  was  deposited  by  one  of  Gilfort's  emissaries 
where  it  reached  the  eye  of  Dobson  before  night.  As  the 
poor  old  fellow  read  it,  every  hair  of  his  head  stood  up,  his 
teeth  chattered, — so  many  as. came  in  contact, —  and  he  passed 
the  night  without  a  wink  of  sleep.  The  unearthly  style, 
appearance  and  handwriting,  of  the  letter,  as  also  the  extraor- 
dinary manner  in  which  it  reached  him,  as  if  it  might  have 


188  MAPLETON;     OR, 

dropped  down  from  the  clouds,  all  conspired  to  assure  him 
that  it  was  what  it  purported  to  be,  an  epistle  direct  from 
heaven  transmitted  by  the  hand  of  an  angel.  How  to  elude 
the  demand  was  all  his  study.  Subtracting  dollars  was  tear- 
ing out  his  heart-strings.  He  waited,  conned  over  the  mat- 
ter in  his  mind,  tortured  himself  almost  to  madness,  and 
finally  determined  to  sell  soul,  body  and  all,  to  "  den  duyvel," 
to  use  his  own  expression,  rather  than  give  up  his  money. 
The  throes  of  poor  Dobson's  soul,  in  coming  to  this  terrible 
conclusion,  may  be  better  imagined  than  described.  The 
strength  of  his  conviction  that  the  powers  above  were  mak- 
ing this  draught  upon  his  purse  was  only  equalled  by  the 
grasp  of  his  avarice,  which  could  not  be  relaxed  by  the 
certainty  of  jeoparding  the  highest  interest  of  which  it  is 
possible  for  mortal  man  to  conceive.  Alas !  what  dangers 
will  not  money  make  a  man  incur !  The  day  came  and 
passed  away,  but  no  money  was  deposited  under  the  bridge, 
toward  the  sun-rising.  What  was  a  little  remarkable,  how- 
ever, four  of  Dobson's  best  cattle  died  before  night,  and  there 
were  fearful  signs  of  sickness  within  his  doors.  To  add  to 
his  consternation,  another  letter  reached  him.  more  dreadful 
than  the  first : 

"  The  great  God  to  Roderick  Dobson,  showeth  that,  in  the 
plenitude  of  my  mercy,  I  have  added  further  space  for  thee 
to  repent,  and  thus  avert  impending  woes.  Though  I  might 
in  justice  cut  thee  off  and  all  thou  hast,  as  thy  cattle  have 
this  day  died  by  my  visitation,  and  thus  punish  without  hope 
thy  contempt  of  my  authority  in  withholding  the  money  of 
which  I  have  need ;  yet,  now  appoint  I  unto  thee  the  fifteenth 
day  of  the  first  month,  as  the  time  wherein  thou  mayest 
redeem  thy  body  from  pestilence,  wasting  and  death,  and  thy 


MOEE  WORK  FOB  THE   MAINE  LAW.  189 

soul  from  outer  darkness,  by  depositing  thy  money  under  -the 
bridge  as  aforesaid,  early  in  the  morning,  before  the  first  rays 
pencil  the  east,  while  the  ox  is  yet  in  his  stall,  and  the  labor- 
ing man  in  his  couch.  And,  in  default  hereof,  thy  dwelling 
shall  be  consumed  by  lightning,  murrain  shall  smite  thy  cat- 
tle, thy  flocks  shall  perish  with  destruction,  thy  wife  shall  be 
given  to  another,  thy  children  be  vagabond  and  beg,  and  thy 
soul  shall  be  the  sport  of  demons  to  all  eternity.  In  virtue 
of  my  Godhead,  by  the  hand  of  my  SERVANT." 

By  this  time  Dobson  had  become  extremely  nervous,  from 
his  superstitious  fears,  the  death  of  his  cattle,  the  want  of 
sleep,  and,  most  of  all,  from  continued  drunkenness.  A  sus- 
picion is  also  abroad  that  the  whiskey  Gilfort  gave  him  was 
mixed  with  a  maddening  drug,  as,  from  that  moment,  he  was 
never  himself  again.  But  we  see  no  necessity  for  such  a 
conclusion.  Continued  drunkenness  operating  upon  a  mind 
habitually  superstitious,  as  the  Dutch  are,  is  sufficient  to 
account  for  all.  Besides,  the  evil  eye  of  Gilfort  was  never 
brought  to  bear  upon  a  weak  man  like  Dobson,  when  it  did 
not  bewitch  him.  Hence,  the  effect  of  this  second  missive 
was  far  more  decided  than  the  first.  He  immediately  ar- 
ranged to  deposit  the  money.  But,  upon  counting  his  funds, 
he  found  they  fell  short  of  the  demand.  This  did  not  dispel 
the  delusion,  but  rather  prompted  him  to  supply  the  deficiency 
by  borrowing.  The  neighbor  on  whom  he  called  for  the 
purpose  was  surprised  at  such  a  request  from  Dobson,  who 
was  known  to  overflow  with  cash.  "  What  possible  necessity, 
Mr.  Dobson,  has  driven  you  to  this? "  said  the  man. 

Dobson,  with  a  wild  stare  out  of  his  bloodshot  eyes,  stam- 
mered an  excuse  for  waiving  the  question.  "You  knows, 


190  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

neighbor,  that  —  a  —  a  —  a  body  can't  have,  —  one's  fam-. 
ilj,  you  knows." 

"  What !  your  family,  Dobson,  drive  you  to  this?  That  'a 
more  than  I  believe.  You  are  not  a  man  to  be  filched." 

"  No,  not  a  man  to  be  filched,  because  I  takes  caro  of  my 
own.  But  there  is  a  God  above,"  he  added,  with  an  earnest 
expression  of  his  rubicund  face,  "  and  I  'm  afeard  to  filch 
from  Him." 

"To  filch  from  your  Maker!  Pray  what  has  that  to  do 
with  your  want  of  money? "  replied  the  man,  now  more  sur- 
prised than  ever. 

"  Why,  here,  here,"  holding  up  his  two  letters,  with  a 
trembling  hand  ;  "  here 's  my  warrant  for  the  money."  The 
man  read  the  letters.  "What  does  you  think  of  them  ?" 
inquired  Dobson,  with  an  agonized  expression. 

"  Think  !  I  think  they  are  a  blasphemous  device  of  some 
swindling  hypocrite,  attempting  to  profit  by  your  supersti- 
tion." 

"By  Saint  Nicholas,  I'd  like  to  think  so  too!"  said 
Dobson,  incredulously. 

"  Think  so  !     Pray,  why  have  you  come  here  to  borrow  ?  " 

"  Because  I  has  n't  the  money  by  me." 

"What! — are  you  such  a  fool  as  to  suppose  that  the 
All- wise  don't  know  how  much  money  you  have  ?  Would  he 
command  you  to  put  under  that  bridge  what  he  knows  you 
have  not?" 

This  did  not  satisfy  Dobson.  The  poison  of  whiskey  and 
of  Gilfort's  incantation  had  gone  too  deep,  and  wrought  too 
powerfully  upon  his  nerves,  to  admit  of  his  feeling  the  force 
of  such  reasoning.  His  neighbor,  therefore,  lent  him  the 
money,  determined  to  watch  the  bridge,  after  the  deposit  was 
made,  to  see  what  would  become  of  it. 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  191 

Dobson  felt  that  he  was  haunted.  His  house  was  full  of 
spooks,  which  were  yawling  like  cats  through  its  rooms  and 
passages,  during  the  live-long  night.  He  knew  they  were 
spooks,  he  said,  because  there  were  no  cats  in  it,  and  he  con- 
trived to  be  from  home  as  much  as  possible.  The  night  before 
depositing  the  money,  he  was  away  on  a  drunken  brawl,  and 
did  not  return  till  twelve  o'clock.  He  was  so  overcome  with 
liquor  as  to  have  just  strength  enough  to  put  out  his  horse. 
He  reached  his  barn,  removed  the  saddle,  and  placed  it  on 
the  ground,  while  he  tied  the  horse  and  went  up  into  the 
mow  to  get  hay.  As  he  clambered  up,  he  saw,  or  thought  he 
saw,  a  spectral  image,  wrapped  in  a  white  sheet,  standing  in 
the  corner  of  the  hay-mow,  and  looking  down  upon  him  with 
flaming  eyes ;  which  so  terrified  him  that  he  well-nigh  fell 
senseless  on  the  floor,  and  had  barely  life  to  escape,  leaving 
the  saddle,  the  open  barn  and  all,  a  prey  to  his  cattle.  He 
ran  home  and  crept  into  his  bed,  more  dead  than  alive.  After 
an  hour  of  feverish  restlessness,  the  liquor  in  his  blood  induced 
a  fitful  sleep,  from  which  he  was  soon  awaked  by  a  brilliant 
light  in  his  room.  He  sat  up  in  bed  and  looked  to  see  what 
it  meant,  when  he  saw  three  men,  two  in  middle  age,  one  of 
whom  seemed  to  be  sick,  and  the  other  was  supporting  him, 
while  the  third  was  an  aged  man,  with  gray  locks  hanging 
down  upon  his  shoulders.  Dobson  gazed  a  moment  in  wild 
affright,  when  the  old  man  came  to  the  foot  of  the  bed,  and 
looked  him  direct  in  the  face, —  and  lo !  who  should  it  be 
but  the  ghost  of  his  own  father,  who  had  been  dead  some 
years  !  Dobson  tried  to  speak  to  him,  but  his  tongue  refused 
its  cunning.  He  then  tried  to  cry  out,  but  his  voice  would 
not  come.  In  a  moment  all  vanished,  and  his  room  was  dark 
as  before. 

It  was  now  three  of  the  fatal  morning.     Not  a  wink  had 


192  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

poor  Dobson  slept,  after  this  frightful  vision.  Still,  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  deposit  his  money  under  the  bridge. 
The  miserly  cords  of  his  heart  grew  tighter  and  tighter,  as 
the  hour  of  parting  with  his  idol  approached.  It  seemed  to 
him  worse  than  death.  He  was  more  than  half  resolved  to 
let  the  spooks  take  his  soul,, rather  than  his  money.  While 
these  dreadful  thoughts  were  revolving  in  his  mind,  and  every 
nerve  of  sensation  was  strained  to  its  utmost  tension,  he  heard 
the  rumbling  of  distant  thunder.  It  came  nearer  and  nearer, 
was  more  and  more  terrific,  and  he  looked  every  moment  for 
the  lightnings  to  kindle  on  his  house,  according  to  the  threat- 
ened vengeance  of  one  of  his  letters.  At  length  it  broke 
directly  over  him  in  a  terrific  volley,  and  he  believed  that  all 
his  wealth  would  instantly  be  converted  to  ashes.  He  feared 
it  was  already  too  late  to  avert  the  doom ;  whereupon,  leap- 
ing out  of  bed  like  a  maniac,  he  ran  half-naked  through  the 
snow  and  winds  of  a  dreadful  morning,  and  left  his  bag  of 
money  under  the  bridge,  and  then  made  his  escape,  relieved 
of  the  intolerable  burden  upon  his  conscience. 

Gilfort  watched  every  movement ;  and,  no  sooner  had  the 
deposit  been  made,  than  he  crept  from  his  lurking-place  in 
disguise,  to  make  sure  of  his  prey.  Nor  did  the  neighbor 
of  whom  Dobson  effected  the  loan  reach  the  spot  till  Gilfort 
had  pocketed  the  money,  and  was  creeping  from  under  the 
bridge.  As  he  arrived  at  one  end  of  the  bridge,  lo  !  a  spectre 
of  horrid  mien  presented  itself  to  his  view,  which  made  him 
quake  with  fear,  and  excited  images  in  his  mind  most  dread- 
ful to  conceive.  He  saw  through  the  deep,  dusky  morning, 
the  dim  outlines  of  what  seemed  a  being  of  immensely  tall 
proportions,  covered  with  hair  and  surmounted  above  with 
horns,  while  a  prodigious  length  of  tail  dangled  behind,  as  he 
crept  from  under  the  bridge.  Withal,  there  was  a  limp  and 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  193 

amble  in  his  gait  that  left  the  man  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it 
was  cloven-foot  himself.  Choosing  to  avoid  such  an  en- 
counter, and  trusting  to  nimble  feet,  he  took  to  his  heels.  A 
second  thought  restored  his  vapid  courage,  and  he  turned 
back  to  try  upon  Old  Scratch  the  virtue  of  a  club  with  which 
he  was  armed.  He  met  the  mysterious  being  as  he  was 
mounting  the  bank  of  the  creek,  and  levelled  at  him  a  pro- 
digious blow,  which  sent  him  tumbling  upon  the  ice.  Here 
he  gathered  up  his  huge  length,  ran  under  the  bridge,  and 
made  his  escape  another  way,  the  man  being  too  much  agi- 
tated by  doubt  and  fear  to  make  good  the  advantage  which 
he  had  gained. 

How  much  of  this  scene  of  enchantment  was  owing  to 
Dobson's  inbred  superstition,  inflamed  by  whiskey,  which  has 
a  mysterious  connection  with  spiritual  agency,  as  we  have 
before  stated ;  or  how  much  of  it  was  brought  about  by  Gil- 
fort's  contrivance,  as  the  ghosts  and  thunder,  for  instance ; 
or  how  much  was  real,  we  must  leave  the  reader  to  judge. 
The  appearance  at  the  bridge  was  afterwards  explained  by 
the  fact  that  Gilfort  had  gone  to  a  tannery,  pilfered  an  ox- 
hide, put  it  over  him  from  head  to  foot,  with  horns  projecting 
above  and  tail  dangling  at  the  other  extremity,  and  in  this 
disguise  had  appeared  as  the  servant  of  the  Most  High,  to 
fill  his  pockets  with  poor  Dobson's  money.  The  blow  which 
was  inflicted  left  an  indelible  mark  on  Gilfort's  face  just  below 
the  eye,  which  he  afterwards  gloried  in  as  one  of  the x  wounds 
of  an  honorable  warfare. 

The  robbery  made  much  talk.  Sundry  innocent  persons 
were  taken  up  and  examined,  but,  in  default  of  proof,  they 
were  discharged.  At  length,  suspicion  fastened  strongly 
upon  Gilfort,  from  the  fact  of  his  attempt  to  borrow  money, 
and  a  report  that  he  had  a  sore  face  and  a  black  eye  about 
17 


194  MAPLETON;  OB, 

those  days.  Besides,  vrhen  the  man  who  gave  the  blow  saw 
Gilfort,  he  made  oath  that  he  believed  him  to  be  the  man. 
On  this  evidence  he  was  taken  up,  and  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  him,  had  he  not  found  persons  to  swear  to  an 
alibi,  whose  testimony  was  thought  to  have  been  received 
with  the  greater  readiness,  on  account  of  the  influence  of 
certain  persons  in  conducting  the  prosecution,  with  whom 
Gilfort  was  united  in  a  secret  society. 

Thus  we  have  endeavored  to  sketch  faithfully  this  extraor- 
dinary case,  in  which  there  is  much  more  of  fact  than 
of  fiction,  not  only  as  showing  the  witchcraft  of  wine,  but 
also  the  blighting  influence  of  a  successful  religious  impos- 
ture. In  justice  to  Skampton,  it  must  be  said  that  his 
relations  to  Gilfort  were  solely  of  a  business  kind,  and  he  had 
no  suspicion  of  his  real  character.  Gilfort's  spiritual  nature 
was  thoroughly  corrupted  by  his  parentage,  by  his  training, 
by  wine,  and  by  all  his  habits  of  thinking,  feeling  and  act- 
ing. There  was  no  congruity  in  his  imposture,  it  is  true ; 
but  there  was  craft,  cunning,  intensity,  and  a  bold  spirit,  rich 
in  expedients  to  push  on  his  great  work  in  life,  by  any 
instrumentality  that  might  chance  to  fall  in  his  way. 

No  corrupt  influences  are  so  much  to  be  dreaded  as  those 
which  assume  identity  with  invisible  power.  The  work  of 
the  Jesuits,  in  brutalizing  the  reason  and  conscience,  is  more 
fatal  than  a  depopulated  and  devastated  country  in  the  train 
of  conquering  .armies.  These  physical  evils  may  be  re- 
paired and  restored  by  the  innate  energy  of  man  and 
advancing  population.  Not  so  with  the  dark  traces  which  a 
triumphant  fanaticism  leaves  on  the  subject  mind.  Its 
perversions  are  written  on  a  basis  of  adamant,  and  will  not 
yield  to  the  abrasion  of  time  and  improving  reason.  Errors  of 
religion  intrench  themselves  in  those  deep  and  powerful  sym- 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  195 

pathies  which  wax  as  the  other  passions  wane,  and  grow  with 
their  decay.  After  connubial  love  is  quenched  in  man's  heart ; 
after  death  has  unclenched  the  iron  grasp  of  his  avarice  ; 
after  ambition  has  ceased  to  pant  for  new  laurels ;  yea,  after 
all  the  most  active  impulses  are  cold  and  dead,  then,  with  a 
palsied  hand,  he  writes  his  scarcely  legible  name,  devising  his 
goods,  and  estates,  and  honors,  as  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar 
of  his  fanaticism,  to  insure  the  rest  of  his  soul  in  that 
unknown  land  which  lies  beyond.  Then,  amid  the  wrecks  of 
his  earthly  being,  the  diseased  and  distorted  elements  of  his 
spiritual  nature  appear  in  their  greatest  activity,  and  achieve 
their  mightiest  victories.  The  clenched  hand  of  avarice 
cannot  withstand  a  power  like  this.  Even  Dobson  is  made  to 
give  his  thousands,  when,  through  liquor,  or  the  incantations 
of  an  artful  heresiarch,  he  comes  distinctly  to  feel  his  con- 
nection with  the  spirit-land. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  FORCES   RECONNOITRING. 

"There  are  no  tricks  in  plain  and  simple  faith: 
But  hollow  men,  like  horses  hot  at  hand, 
Make  gallant  show  and  promise  of  their  mettle, 
But,  when  they  should  endure  the  bloody  spur, 
They  fall  their  crests,  and,  like  deceitful  jades, 
Sink  in  the  trial."  —  SHAKSPEAEE.. 

RELIEVED  of  pecuniary  embarrassment,  Gilfort  now  ap- 
plied to  the  main  work  in  hand.     He  had  peculiar  advantages 


196  MAPLETONj    OR, 

as  a  lobby  member.  His  position  in  the  West,  his  colonial 
fame,  the  mysterious  enchantment  which  invested  his  name, 
and  his  great  powers  of  personal  address,  made  his  ante- 
room dominion  irresistible  and  overwhelming.  The  members 
felt  themselves  flattered  with  the  court  paid  to  them  by  such 
a  man.  He  shrewdly  took  them,  one  by  one,  and  made  each 
feel  that  he  was  a  special  favorite,  and  the  chief  reliance  for 
the  success  of  his  suit  against  the  Maine  Law.  The  member, 
supposing  himself  the  only  one  thus  honored,  freely  gave  the 
required  pledge  as  an  act  of  courtesy,  reflecting  within  him- 
self that  his  solitary  vote  could  not  materially  affect  the 
result  one  way  or  the  other.  In  this  manner  Gilfort  artfully 
tied  the  hands  of  a  majority  in  both  houses  from  supporting 
the  bill.  He  laughed  in  his  sleeve  at  such  a  collection  of 
dough-faces  in  the  place  of  power  over  a  great  people. 

Meantime,  the  public  mind  was  in  a  state  of  excited 
expectancy  in  reference  to  the  battle  between  Bludgeon  and 
his  enemies.  Some  said  one  thing,  and  some  another.  Betting 
ran  high  on  both  sides.  If  men  stopped  to  talk  at  the  corners 
of  the  streets,  this  was  the  subject.  In  the  theatres,  operas, 
hotels,  barber-shops,  counting-rooms,  printing-offices,  every- 
where, all  the  words,  aside  from  the  business  in  hand,  were 
of  the  Maine  Law,  Saphead,  Bludgeon,  Skampton,  Gilfort, 
and  the  great  contest  of  which  their  city  was  to  be  the  seat. 
Stories  of  Bludgeon  were  hawked  about  in  the  penny  sheets, 
and  newsmongers  were  reaping  a  golden  harvest  out  of  the 
excitement.  But  at  no  place  was  more  felt  or  said  on  the 
subject  than  at  Buck's  Saloon.  This  was,  externally,  an 
unpretending-looking  place  near  the  capitol,  where  the  mem- 
bers went  to  "  liquor."  Many  a  thundering  oration  found 
here  its  inspiration.  Buck's  Saloon  was  a  powerful  agent 
against  the  Maine  Law.  Its  alcoholic  fountain  flowed  to 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  197 

many  a  legislative  gullet,  to  give  mettle  and  motion  to  the 
anti-temperance  enterprise.  The  front  door  of  Buck's  was  a 
plain  one,  with  a  screen  standing  within,  to  cast  a  shading 
over  the  splendid  drinking  saloon  into  which  it  opened,  the 
entire  back  end  of  which  was  occupied  by  the  bar,  from  which 
the  tempting  bait  presented  to  longing  eyes  every  variety  of 
hue,  from  pale  ale  to  brown  stout  and  London  porter,  and 
from  Scotch  whiskey  to  cloudy  port.  A  row  of  men,  swallow- 
ing down  the  mind-killing  potion,  were  arranged  in  front,  like 
a  forlorn  hope  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  enemy's  batteries. 

In  a  side  room,  which  had  its  own  entrance  from  the  street, 
and  from  which  the  drinking  saloon  was  cautiously  concealed, 
might  be  seen  rows  of  white  marble  circular  tables,  at  each 
of  which,  at  almost  all  hours  of  the  twenty-four,  might  be 
seen — as  also  at  a  succession  of  side-tables  of  like  material 
—  parties  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  over  ices,  sherbets,  oyster- 
soups,  roast  oysters,  fricasseed  chickens,  tarts,  jellies,  pies, 
nuts,  raisins,  cakes,  according  to  the  liking  of  each;  with 
here  and  there  a  modest  glass  of  wine,  like  a  cat  in  a  strange 
garret.  This  was  a  beverage  allowed  in  this  room  only  for 
special  purposes,  that  temperance  customers  might  not  take 
the  alarm,  and  withdraw  their  patronage.  Directly  back  of 
these  rooms,  shaded  passages  led  to  a  splendid  bowling-alley, 
on  the  right  of  which  was  a  drinking  recess  to  accommodate 
the  bowlers,  and  also  to  stow  away  those  who  had  become 
decidedly  tight  in  the  drinking  saloon  ;  while  to  the  left  was 
a  gambling  haunt, —  the  sanctum,  sanctorum  of  the  hell, — 
to  which  only  its  consecrated  priests  were  admitted.  Here, 
from  morning  to  night,  and  night  to  morning,  week  in  and 
week  out,  year  in  and  year  out,  the  landsharks  preyed  upon 
their  victims,  to  whom  they  dealt  out  robbery,  suicide  and 
murder,  by  wholesale. 

17* 


198  MAPLETON;    OR, 

These  haunts  were  unusually  full,  as  the  time  of  Bludgeon's 
appearance  drew  on.  In  the  drinking  saloon  discussion  ran 
high,  and  sometimes  ended  in  blows.  On  one  of  these  even- 
ings, Mr.  Meserve,  the  member  from  New  York,  met  Mr. 
Whittemore,  a  senator  from  the  country.  "What  will  you 
take  ?  "  said  Meserve. 

"I'm  a  temperance  man,  sir,"  replied  Whittemore.  "I 
never  take  anything." 

"  Confound  you  !  what  are  you  here  for,  then  ?  A  spy,  eh  ? 
to  get  ammunition  for  this  cursed  Bludgeon's  gun  !  " 

"So  long  as  I  behave  like  a  gentleman,  Meserve,  I'm 
entitled  to  be  treated  with  respect.  Are  you  a  secret  police, 
to  inquire  into  men's  motives?  " 

"No;  only,  if  you  are  a  Bludgeon  man,  this  is  no  place 
for  you." 

"lam  a  friend  of  temperance;  I  owe  my  place  in  the 
Senate  to  my  being  so,  and  I  am  never  ashamed  to  own  it, 
here  or  anywhere.  But  this  does  not  preclude  me  from  a 
little  bowling  exercise,  after  so  many  hours  of  confinement  to 
my  seat  in  the  house." 

"Ay,  ay;  if  that's  your  object,  I'll  join  you.  Cath- 
burt,  how  are  you?  "  added  Meserve,  to  a  young  man  who 
at  that  moment  entered. 

"  Nicely,  thank  you." 

"No,  Cathburt,  you  are  not  nicely;  you  needn't  think 
to  deceive  me ;  your  face  looks  lightning-struck.  Have  you 
been  in  a  thunder-storm  ?  " 

"  What  will  you  take,  Meserve?"  said  the  young  man, 
anxious  to  elude  this  catechetical  scrutiny,  as  his  haggard 
face,  his  wandering,  restless  eye,  his  parched  lips,  and  excited 
demeanor,  told  too  plainly  that  his  mind  was  the  seat  of  tor- 
menting ideas,  which,  in  default  of  a  tongue  to  make  them- 


MORE   WORK  TOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  199 

selves  visible,  were  thus  pushing  themselves  into  notice  through 
all  the  cracks  and  crevices  of  the  soul. 

"Mint-julep,  I  think,"  replied  Meserve.  "'Twill  cool 
the  heated  brain,  and  make  us  ourselves  again.  Let 's  be 
merry  while  we  can.  Bludgeon  's  at  hand,  to  blow  us  sky- 
high." 

"  Would  he  'd  come  a  week  sooner ! "  replied  Cathburt,  with 
an  involuntary  sigh. 

"  What  ails  you,  Cathburt  ?  In  love  ?  Heard  from  your 
father  of  late  ?  Anything  the  matter  ?  " 

"  Come,  here  's  for  you,"  said  Cathburt,  taking  a  julep 
from  the  waiter,  and  handing  it  to  Meserve,  and  beginning  to 
sip  his  own. 

"Do  you  know  this  Bludgeon,  Whittemore 'I "  inquired 
Meserve. 

"  Yes,  like  a  book.  He 's  a  roarer.  Meserve,  I  want  you 
to  pledge  me  that  you  will  not  drink  a  drop  that  intoxicates 
for  one  week,  and  that  you  '11  give  up  that  week  to  hearing 
Bludgeon.  Then  see  if  you  '11  laugh  at  the  pledge  any  more. 
I  much  doubt  if  you  didn't  stick  it  on  your  hat,  and  wear  it 
as  a  cockade." 

"  Go  to  destruction  !     I  'd  as  soon  have  a  thief's  mark." 

"  Yes,  a  cropped  ear  would  be  honorable  in  the  comparison," 
replied  Dumble,  another  man  from  the  country,  who  had  just 
joined  the  party. 

' '  Confound  Bludgeon  !  I  '11  drink  in  spite  of  him  and  all 
his  crew, —  that  I  will ! "  said  Meserve,  sucking  the  last  drop 
of  his  julep.  "  Now,  gentlemen,  I  'm  ready  for  a  round." 

The  party  adjourned  to  the  bowling-alley,  and  commenced 
rolling.  Whittemore  felt  himself  in  an  awkward  position,  as 
well  he  might,  and  could  get  up  no  spirit  for  the  game. 
Cathburt  was  still  more  spiritless ;  the  left  door —  which  the 


200  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

others  did  not  understand  —  occupying  all  his  attention.  A 
siren  voice  seemed  luring  him  upon  the  gambler's  dangerous 
coast,  against  which  his  principles  and  his  vows  remonstrated, 
but  towards  which  a  mysterious  spell  was  urging  him  by  its 
fatal  enchantments.  At  length  he  excused  himself,  and  entered 
the  dangerous  door.  This  broke  up  the  party,  and  the 
others  stepped  into  the  drinking  recess  to  rest  themselves. 
Here  they  found  twenty  or  thirty  persons  in  the  various 
stages  of  intoxication,  from  the  excitement  of  the  first  glass, 
to  stolid,  beastly  insensibility.  "  Gentlemen,  let 's  eat  and 
drink,  for  to-morrow  —  Blugdeon  comes!"  said  Meserve, 
with  a  laugh. 

"  To-morrow  we  die,  you  mean  rather,"  added  Durable. 
"  It 's  hard  to  tell  which  is  the  worse,  dying  or  being  choked 
by  this  blood-hound.  He 's  ruined  my  business." 

"  Then  you,  too,  know  Bludgeon,  Durable  ?  "  said  Meserve. 

"  Yes,  to  my  cost.  He  has  been  to  our  town,  and,  by  his 
endless  clatter,  has  spoilt  my  tavern-stand.  Othello's  occu- 
pation 's  gone,  and  he 's  here  looking  for  business." 

"Is  your  name  Othello  ?"  inquired  a  half-drunk,  stupid 
looking  fellow.  "  I  —  I — I  have  a  friend  of  that  'are  name." 

"No,"  said  Durable,  laughing,  "  I  mean,  by  Othello,  any 
man  who  is  driven  out  of  the  liquor-business  by  this  cursed 
temperance  movement." 

"Yes,  'pon  my  honor,"  said  the  fellow,  "this  reformed 
drunkard,  Bludgeon,  is  drunker  than  any  of  us.  That 's  my 
opinion." 

"  Down  with  Bludgeon  !  Down  with  Bludgeon  !  "  was 
now  the  general  cry. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  Whittemore,  "  though  I  am  not  in  the 
habit  of  betting,  I  '11  wager  ten  dollars  against  one,  on  every 
person  in  the  room,  that,  if  he  will  follow  up  Bludgeon,  in 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  201 

every  discourse,  for  one  week,  and  will  not  drink  a  drop  that 
intoxicates  in  the  mean-time,  he  will  take  the  pledge,  and 
become  a  temperance  man." 

"  I  '11  take  you  up  at  that,"  said  Meserve  ;  "  plank  your 
dollars,  and  I  will  mine  !  " 

"  You  '11  lose  your  money,  Meserve,"  said  Dumble.  "  You 
have  no  idea  of  this  man's  thunder.  He 's  an  iron  battery, 
whose  guns  always  hit.  Besides,  the  victory  is  in  the  condi- 
tion of  this  bet :  not  to  taste  liquor  for  a  week.  That 's 
enough  to  put  any  man  in  the  notion  of  drinking  no  more." 

"I  cannot  plank  my  money,"  said  Whittemore,  "till  I 
see  how  many  will  stand  to  the  conditions." 

" I'll  stand."  "  And  so  will  I."  "  And  I,"  " I,"  "  I," 
—  until  all  were  pledged,  except  those  who  were  too  far  gone 
to  understand  the  question. 

"  I'll  hear  Bludgeon,"  said  one,  "  and  I  wish  to  God  it 
might  make  me  a  temperate  man  !  " 

"My  sufferings,  in  body  and  mind,"  said  another  bloated, 
trembling  victim,  "  no  tongue  can  express.  I  'd  give  worlds 
to  be  as  I  was  before  I  ever  drank !  " 

"  My  mother  prayed,  with -her  dying  breath,  that  I  might 
be  saved  from  rum,  of  which  my  father  Avas  a  victim,"  said 
another,  beginning  to  weep  at  this  recollection  of  his  mother. 

Ah,  how  little  do  we  consider  the  miseries  of  the  vicious  ! 
The  tendencies  to  reformation  underlie  the  most  unpromising 
characters.  The  silent  workings  of  conscience  ;  anticipations 
of  a  coming  judgment ;  the  heart-sickness  which  vice  induces ; 
the  sweet  memory  of  days  of  comparative  innocence,  when  a 
mother's  fond  eye,  a  sister's  love,  and  a  brother's  confidence,  oc- 
cupied the  place  of  present  scorn,  neglect  and  infamy  ;  all  these, 
and  many  other  causes  exist,  to  predispose  to  virtue  even  those 
now  most  abandoned ;  provided  the  hope  of  securing  so  pre- 


202  MAPLETON;  OR, 

cious  a  boon  were  once  to  get  possession  of  the  mind.  The 
hopelessness  of  vice  is  one  of  the  great  reasons  of  its  per- 
petuity. Can  the  harlot  expect  to  be  otherwise  than  a  harlot 
still  ?  If  in  conduct  she  amends,  in  social  position  she  is  the 
same.  The  hope  of  retm-ning  to  innocence,  or  justification, 
is  the  great  desideratum  of  Christianity.  So,  hope  is  what 
our  temperance  reformers  must  carry  with  them,  when  they 
visit  earth's  hells,  and  deal  with  its  lost  spirits.  All  that  is 
wanted,  in  many  cases,  is  the  encouragement  that  friends, 
health,  peace  and  prosperity,  will  surely  follow  the  total  aban- 
donment of  the  cup.  To  supply  a  hope  like  this  is  a  part  of 
philanthropy's  work,  of  which  we  find  the  highest  precedent 
in  the  religion  we  profess. 

Cathburt  found  the  gambling  company  in  full  blast.  T^YO 
noted  gamblers,  Gripe  and  Bobbin,  were  the  ruling  geniuses 
of  the  place.  They  were  cool,  collected,  sharp-sighted,  deep- 
seated  villains,  who  could  read  cards  as  well  on  the  back  as 
the  face,  and  who  could  conjure  them  into  just  such  a  position 
in  the  pack  in  shuffling  as  they  desired.  Their  business  was 
to  decoy  in  those  who  had  money, —  young  men,  for  the  most 
part,  who  were  fond  of  cards,  and  adepts  in  them  in  their  own 
estimation,  but  who  had  never  gambled,  except  occasionally 
to  stake  the  liquor  they  needed  to  give  them  inspiration. 
Gripe  and  Bobbin  would  take  care  that  the  game  should  go 
against  themselves  so  long  as  this  liquor-betting  continued ; 
but,  as  soon  as  the  excitement  ran  high  enough  for  dollars  by 
the  ten  and  the  hundred,  then  they  were  on  hand,  and  the 
tyro  gambler  would  be  sure  to  come  off  minus  all  he  had. 
Cathburt  had  been  thus  taken  in,  which  was  the  cause  of  his 
haggard  and  excited  appearance.  Night  after  night  he  had 
followed  up  the  damning  game,  losing,  but  hoping  to  regain 
all  by  the  next  cast,  till  every  cent  was  gone,  except  five 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       203 

thousand  dollars,  which  his  father  had  sent  him  to  take  up  a 
mortgage  with,  that  had  long  encumbered  the  family  estate, 
to  the  unspeakable  annoyance  of  all  the  household.  His 
labor-stricken  parents  had  toiled,  and  saved,  and  economized, 
and  stinted  themselves  to  the  lowest  supplies  of  their  personal 
wants,  in  order  to  relieve  the  property,  out  of  which  they 
hoped  to  live  in  their  extreme  old  age,  of  this  encumbrance. 
As  soon  as  Cathburt  lost  all  his  own  money,  he  resolved  he 
would  go  no  further.  He  would  not  plank  a  cent  of  the  five 
thousand  dollars  which  his  father  had  intrusted  to  him.  But 
Gripe,  who  divined  the  state  of  the  case  with  him,  as  soon  as 
he  entered  the  room  again,  abandoned  all  other  customers, 
and  bestowed  upon  him  his  sole  attention.  He  was  all  smiles, 
spoke  of  the  loss  of  Cathburt' s  money  as  the  merest  accident, 
and  was  sure  so  accomplished  a  player  would  win  it  all  back 
again,  and  especially  at  cribbage,  in  which  he  knew  he  was  so 
very  expert. —  "  Let  us  try  our  hand  at  crib,  Mr.  Cathburt, 
which  you  like  so  much,  and  which  we  two  can  play  together. 
It  is  a  scientific  game,  and  the  discipline  I  hope  to  acquire 
by  means  of  it  will  reconcile  me  to  the  money  which  I  know 
you  cannot  fail  to  win  from  me." 

"  No,  Gripe,  my  vow  is  taken,  and  you  need  not  per- 
suade." 

"  Well,  if  you  have  grown  so  puritanic  all  at  once  as  not 
to  play  for  money,  I'll  stake  with  you  a  bottle  of  Buck's 
best," —  an  excellent  quality  of  old  Madeira,  to  be  had  only 
at  Buck's.  The  temptation  took  with  the  excited  Cathburt, 
and  he  accepted  and  won  the  bet  at  cribbage.  Cathburt  drank 
more  than  his  share  of  the  wine ;  and,  alas !  it  proved  to  him 
gambling  wine  indeed;  exciting  the  most  brilliant  hopes  of 
winning  a  fortune  at  cards,  and  overcoming  all  his  repugnance 
to  planking  his  father's  money.  At  it  they  went,  betting 


204  MAPLETON;    OR, 

small  at  first,  then  larger  and  larger,  until  the  last  cent  of 
the  five  thousand  dollars  melted  away  under  his  hand.  It 
was  now  three  of  the  lurid  morning.  The  consciousness  of 
the  full  extent  of  the  dreadful  calamity  rolled  over  him  like 
a  crushing  mountain.  His  head  was  giddy,  and  he  reeled 
towards  a  door  opening  into  the  back-yard,  through  which  he 
disappeared. 

"  Suppose  our  doings  were  revealed  to  Bludgeon,"  said 
another  young  man,  who  had  fared  little  better  in  the  hands 
of  Bobbin. 

"  The  scoundrel  that  does  such  a  deed  will  get  that  through 
his  heart! "  said  Gripe,  drawing  a  gleaming  stiletto  blade  from 
its  concealed  scabbard  in  his  bosom.  "Better  have  all  the 
New  York  police  upon  us  than  that  blackguard  !  " 

"But  I'll  send  daylight  through  him,  the  moment  he 
moves  his  viper  tongue  against  Buck's  Saloon!"  said  Bobbin, 
drawing  a  sword-cane,  and  flourishing  it  around  his  head. 

The  young  man  cowered  under  arguments  like  these,  of 
which  he  had  no  mistrust  till  this  moment. 

Morning  came,  but  no  Cathburt  appeared.  The  search 
became  exciting  and  universal.  Meantime,  Saphead  returned 
at  the  head  of  his  marshalled  legions,  and  they  went  into 
session,  with  the  Honorable  Michael  Skampton  in  the  chair. 
The  first  meeting  was  enormous,  and,  being  for  the  most  part 
men  variously  connected  with  the  liquor  business,  interest  had 
whetted  them  to  malignity  against  the  Maine  Law  and  its 
friends.  Skampton,  in  his  opening  speech,  breathed  out  the 
rabid  conservatism  of  his  spirit  in  general,  more  than  against 
this  specific  law.  "We  are  met,"  he  said,  "to  devise  a 
remedy  for  the  innovations  of  the  age.  All  the  old  land- 
marks of  doctrine,  usage,  legislation  and  business,  are  in 
danger  of  going  by  the  board.  It  has  come  to  that,  that  a 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       205 

man  who  retires  at  night  an  honest  tradesman  earning  his 
bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  face  wakes  up  in  the  morning 
and  finds  himself  a  criminal  before  the  law  and  public  opinion. 
He  has  no  alternative  but  to  change  his  business,  and  leave 
his  family  to  starve,  or  submit  to  fine  and  imprisonment.  My 
old  uncle  made  a  large  fortune  by  importing  servants  from 
Africa ;  but,  if  I  were  to  do  it,  I  should  be  punished  as  a 
pirate  and  an  outlaw.  And  now  there  is  a  restless  set  of 
vagabonds  among  us,  who  are  determined  to  place  in  the  same 
category  those  who  hold  slaves  and  deal  in-  liquor.  Will  you 
submit  to  these  innovations,  gentlemen, — will  you?" 

"  No,  we  '11  die  first !  "  was  the  murmured  response  from 
a  thousand  voices. 

"  It  is  not  a  question  of  money,  gentlemen,  so  much  as  of 
character,  of  right, —  immutable,  inalienable,  and  eternal 
right.  Will  you  submit  to  have  your  names  handed  down  to 
posterity,  blackened  and 'anathematized,  to  be  the  reproach  of 
your  children,  as  those  who  had  held  property,  and  prosecuted 
trade,  and  amassed  fortunes,  in  contempt  of  justice  and  law  1 
Will  you  submit  to  be  accused  of  instigating  crime  and 
producing  pauperage  by  the  wholesale?  This,  gentlemen, 
this  is  what  our  •  enemies  are  attempting  to  bring  upon  us. 
This  is  the  gist  and.  animus  of  this  detestable  Maine  Law. 
The  myrmidons  of  this  law,  if  it  pass,  will  enter  our  shops 
and  pour  our  capital  into  the  gutters.  They  will  pick  our 
pockets  with  fines.  They  will  confine  our  persons  among 
felons.  They  will  beggar  our  wives.  They  will  blight  and 
blast  our  unoffending  children.  Gentlemen,  will  you  bow 
your  necks  to  such  a  yoke? " 

"No;  we'll  take  the  sword  first!"  resounded  from  a 
moving  sea  of  heads,  with  eyes  of  fire  turned  upon  the  speaker. 

The  first  meeting  resulted  in  little  more  than  the  appoint- 
18 


206  MAPLETON;    OR, 

ment  of  a  committee  to  draught  resolutions  to  be  embodied  in 
a  memorial  to  both  houses  of  the  Legislature.  This  committee, 
which  was  large,  held  its  sessions  in  Skampton's  library. 
The  arrangement  was  for  each  member  to  write  one  resolution, 
and  then,  out  of  the  whole,  to  make  their  report.  The 
sentiments  found  on  the  collected  papers  were  to  the  follow- 
ing effect: 

"  That  the  Maine  Law  is  a  warfare  upon  the  manufacture, 
sale,  use  and  enjoyment,  of  all  those  accustomed  beverages 
of  the  civilized  world,  from  time  immemorial,  such  as  wines, 
liquors,  cordials,  beer,  ale,  porter,  cider,  and  the  like;  sub- 
jecting to  fines,  imprisonments,  and  other  penalties,  one  of 
our  most  ancient  and  necessary  sources  of  comfort  and 
wealth." 

"  That  it  is  our  natural,  primary,  and  irrevocable  right  to 
use  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  whether  naturally  produced  or 
artificially  prepared,  both  for  meat  and  for  drink,  at  our  own 
personal  discretion  and  responsibility." 

In  penning  this  resolution,  the  venerable  committee  lost 
sight  of  its  injurious  bearing  upon  present  laws,  as  well  as 
the  one  proposed.  In  denying  the  right  to  sell  without  a 
licensej  the  state  long  since  assumed  that  we  are  not  at 
liberty  to  use  the  fruit  of  the  earth  as  we  choose,  but  that 
we  may  be  placed  under  restraint,  when  such  use  is  found 
prejudicial  to  the  public  weal.  If  the  state  may  license,  it 
may  refuse  licenses  to  as  many  as  it  pleases,  or  to  all ;  or, 
it  may  place  a  license  under  such  restrictions  as  it  pleases. 
It  may  refuse  licenses  to  sell  as  a  beverage,  and  give  them  to 
sell  for  other  purposes ;  and,  if  it  may  do  thus,  then  it  may 
enact  stringent  penalties,  if  its  legislation  cannot  be  carried 
out  without.  All  this  is  involved  in  our  present  legislation, 
as  much  as  by  the  Maine  Law. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       207 

"  That  the  enactment  of  such  a  law  by  any  legislative 
majority,  however  great,  would  be  the  usurpation  of  despotic 
powers,  and  an  invasion  of  constitutional  rights." 

Are  not  any  laws  prohibiting  the  liquor  traffic  without 
license  equally  so? 

"  That  we  regard  this  law  as  the  audacious,  unscrupulous, 
and  fanatical  project  of  certain  conventional  associations, 
known  as  Temperance  or  Total  Abstinence  Societies,  acting 
in  concerted  combination,  and  actuated  by  a  prurient,  perverted, 
and  reckless  zeal  to  effect,  by  legislative  coercion,  and  the 
ultimate  physical  force  of  the  law,  extreme  and  impracticable 
purposes,  which  their  moral  influence  has  confessedly  failed 
to  accomplish.  These  societies  have  incurred  the  just  indig- 
nation and  political  resistance  and  hostility  of  every  enlight- 
ened freeman  of  the  land,  as  the  chief  instigators  and  abettors 
of  a  despotic  usurpation,  more  degrading  to  the  moral  volition 
and  dignity  of  a  free  people,  and  more  atrocious  in  its 
political  character,  than  anything  which  history  records." 

More  so  than  the  law  of  nuisances?  Yet,  no  nuisance 
known  to  legislation  can  equal,  in  its  aggressions  upon  the 
well-being  of  society,  the  present  liquor  business  and  drink- 
ing customs.  Despotic  to  prevent  the  crimes  we  so  rigorously 
punish  ?  Despotic  to  place  our  greatest  cause  of  pauperage 
and  wretchedness  under  restraint?  Despotic  to  say  to  such 
a  man  as  Skampton,  "You  shall  not  corrupt  Mapleton 
society  by  introducing  a  groggery"?  Equitable  and  right 
to  .encourage,  by  license  of  law,  the  ruin  introduced  into  the 
Durham  and  Douglass  families,  and  the  deeds  of  death  at 
Bucks'  Saloon, —  and  despotic  to  prevent  them  ?  To  what 
absurdities  will  not  interest  impel  us  ? 

"That  the  accustomed  beverages  of  civilized  men,  interdicted 
and  rendered  unobtainable  by  this  threatened  law,  are  essen- 


208  MAPLETON;  OR, 

tial  to  the  health  and  comfort,  the  social  enjoyment,  and  the 
beneficial  intercourse,  of  a  large  number  of  persons  in  every 
community,  and  who  now  use  them  unobjectionably  and  wor- 
thily, for  these  desirable  purposes."  And  yet,  from  this 
unobjectionable  and  worthy  use  come  drunkenness,  insanity, 
crime,  pauperage,  and  six  or  eight  tenths  of  the  consequentN 
expense  to  the  tax-paying  community ! 

"  That  man,  as  a  superior,  social  and  moral  being,  exercis- 
ing a  rational  intelligence  and  choice  as  to  what  is  most  bene- 
ficial and  agreeable  to  himself,  can  no  more  be  confined,  by 
restrictive  legislation,  to  the  drink  of  the  inferior  animals,  than 
to  their  food  or  clothing ;  and  requires  neither  medical  nor 
legislative  prescriptions  for  the  ordinary  preservation  of  his 
health,  or  recuperation  of  his  strength,  nor  the  example  either 
of  drunkards  or  reformed  drunkards  to  protect  his  morals." 

This  was  a  first  gun  at  Bludgeon. 

"That  we  are  convinced,  both  by  observation  and  reflec- 
tion, that  the  infatuated  total  abstinence  from  agreeable,  nutri- 
tious and  renovating  beverages,  under  conventional  and 
unmitigated  obligations,  has  caused,  and  is  still  causing,  a 
greater  sacrifice  of  health  and  life  than  even  the  intemperate 
abuse  of  them ;  the  former  victims,  of  both  sexes,  being  far 
more  numerous  than  the  latter,  though  less  publicly  known." 
Men  dying  for  the  want  of  alcohol,  to  whom  God  has  opened 
the  boundless  stores  of  animal  and  vegetable  nature !  Why 
has  not  poor  Skampton,  and  many  like  him,  who  never  taste 
the  bane  out  of  which  they  make  their  wealth,  long  since  died 
of  abstinence?  There  is  no  reasoning  with  this  venerable 
committee.  They  are  mad  upon  their  idols. 

"  That  it  is  undeniable  and  obvious  that  but  comparatively 
few  persons,  in  any  community,  immoderately  and  immorally 
abuse  these  beverages,  out  of  the  vast  majority  who  moder- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  209 

ately,  virtuously  and  beneficially,  use  them;  and  that  their 
abuse  by  the  few  is  no  just  reason  for  their  being  interdicted 
to  the  many."  This  comparatively  few  make  an  aggregate 
of  thirty  thousand  drunkards  that  die  annually  in  the  United 
States.  "  It  has  cost  our  country,  in  ten  years,  for  alcoholic 
beverages,"  says  Edward  Everett,  "one  hundred  millions  of 
dollars;  has  burned  five  millions  more  of  property;  has 
destroyed  three  hundred  thousand  lives ;  has  sent  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  to  the  prisons,  and  one  hundred  thou- 
sand children  to  the  poorhouse ;  caused  fifteen  hundred  mur- 
ders, two  thousand  suicides,  and  has  bequeathed  to  the  country 
one  hundred  thousand  orphan  children." 

"  That  the  abuse  of  them,  however  sincerely  and  deeply  to 
be  deplored,  is  grossly  and  ridiculously,  though  systematically, 
exaggerated,  as  a  source  of  pauperism  and  crime ;  nearly  all 
the  evils  of  society  being  fanatically  ascribed  to  this  cause,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  other  causes  inherent  in  human  nature 
and  its  imperfect  social  condition,  and  in  impudent  defiance 
of  the  notorious  fact  that  these  evils  prevail,  to  at  least  an 
equal  extent,  in  those  countries  where  such  beverages  have 
been  absolutely  interdicted,  both  by  civil  and  religious  law, 
and  total  abstinence  established  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years."  Figures  cannot  lie.  Of  five  thousand  three  hun- 
dred and  twelve  arrests  in  Montreal,  the  police  report  says 
"  the  greater  number  resulted  from  the  too  free  use  of  intox- 
icating drink."  And  this  accords  to  the  municipal  history  of 
every  city  on  the  continent.  Opium-eating,  bad  govern- 
ment, false  religion,  and  other  causes  of  social  misery  and 
crime,  no  doubt  exist  in  Turkey,  to  produce  a  worse  state  of 
things  than  with  us ;  though  those  peculiar  forms  of  crime 
which  are  here  produced  by  drunkenness  are  there  quite 
18* 


210  MAPLETON;    OR, 

unknown.  Our  committee,  in  this  resolution,  are  not  sus- 
tained by  facts. 

"That  these  beverages  are  not  necessarily  intoxicating,  as 
is  falsely  and  fanatically  assumed  by  the  conventional  advo- 
cates of  the  proposed  law,  in  the  face  of  common  experience 
and  observation."  They  only  necessarily  lead  more  or  less 
to  intoxication,  where  they  are  freely  used  as  a  beverage. 

"  That  the  vice  of  intoxication,  now  rapidly  diminishing 
among  all  classes,  under  the  influence  of  moral  suasion  and 
example,  would  be  aggravated  by  clandestine  indulgences, 
under  the  proposed  law ;  while  the  laws  now  existing,  properly 
enforced,  would  be  fully  adequate  to  suppress  its  grosser 
manifestations  and  consequences."  They  are  not  enforced, 
nor  can  they  be,  for  the  lack  of  effective  penalties. 

"  That  the  enforcement  of  the  proposed  law  would  cause  a 
loss  of  many  millions  invested  in  the  liquor  business."  Lost ! 
No ;  but  turned  into  safer  and  better  investments. 

"That  the  Maine  Law  cannot  be  enforced,  except  amid 
scenes  of  riot  and  bloodshed,  in  which,  though  its  reckless 
advocates  would  be  the  chief  sufferers,  vast  multitudes  of  the 
population  would  be  involved,  and  which  would  be  too  fright- 
ful in  their  results  for  any  but  callous  fanatics  to  contemplate 
without  horror  and  dismay."  It  has  been  enforced  in  Maine 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  life,  and  with  a  vast  diminution 
of  crime  and  pauperage, —  and  why  may  it  not  be  elsewhere? 

Some  other  sentiments  were  proposed,  but  rejected,  because 
they  were  deemed  inappropriate  to  the  committee  as  a  whole. 
One  was,  "  That  church-members  have  no  right  to  associate 
with  worldly  men  in  carrying  out  temperance  measures; 
because  they  thus  neutralize  their  religion  by  mixing  it  with 
human  ingredients,  and  seek  to  do  by  a  worldly  organization 
the  work  which  Christ  has  assigned  to  his  church.'"'  But,  if 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       211 

we  may  belong  to  that  civil  society  which  upholds  the  liquor 
traffic,  may  we  not  to  an  organization  for  pulling  it  down? 
If  worldly  men  will  go  with  us  in  a  Christian  reform,  are  we 
authorized  to  forbid  them?  "  Forbid  them  not." 

Peter  Pegan,  our  conservative  editor,  being  one  of  the 
committee,  now  gave  signs  of  having  something  on  his  mind. 
His  meagre,  misshapen  person,  after  various  contortions, 
assumed  a  position  as  erect  as  the  burden  of  its  responsibili- 
ties would  admit,  and  said, 

"  Gentlemen,  you  know  how  many  subscribers  I  have  lost 
by  means  of  these  temperance  fanatics.  I  cannot,  of  course, 
expect  pecuniary  compensation ;  but  it  would  be  an  unction 
to  my  burdened  mind  to  know  that  I  had  your  approbation, 
and  that  you  were  disposed  to  give  my  paper  the  position  to 
which  my  labors  and  sacrifices  entitle  it.  It  is  the  oldest,  . 
has  the  largest  circulation,  and,  withal,  is  more  central  to 
those  who  act  with  us.  For  these  reasons,  is  it  too  much  to 
ask  that  it  should  be  made  the  oracle  of  the  conservative 
movement?" 

"  Certainly  not;  certainly  not,"  responded  various  voices. 

"  Moreover,  gentlemen,  it  is  but  just  that  I  should  acquaint 
you  wifli  the  perfect  system  to  which,  after  much  experience, 
I  have  reduced  the  powerful  enginery  of  the  periodical  press. 
Take  the  matter  of  puffs,  caustics  and  blanks,  for  instance, 
and  you  will  see  how  impossible  it  is  for  the  public  to  with- 
stand my  well-charged  artillery.  I  suppose  twenty  thousand 
persons  are  looking  to  me  for  that  food  for  their  vanity  which 
is  dealt  out  through  the  columns  of  a  newspaper.  Hence,  I 
am  obliged  to  drive  a  great  trade  in  puffs ;  and,  to  do  it  most 
effectively,  I  have  arranged  the  matter  to  be  included  in  them 
into  a  hundred  divisions,  and  have  written  that  number  of 
puffs,  and  had  them  stereotyped,  with  vacant  places  for  such 


212  MAPLETON;  OB, 

names  as  I  please  to  insert.  These  puffs  I  keep  constantly 
in  use,  as  the  most  popular  branch  of  my  business.  In  some 
plates  I  stereotype  name  and  all,  and  keep  them  as  constantly 
before  the  public  as  quack  advertisements.  You  cannot 
imagine,  gentlemen,  the  facilities  for  my  business  which  I 
derive  from  these  plates.  I  can  cater  to  the  public  vanity  at 
half  the  expense. 

"  Besides,  I  have  fifty  plates,  which,  in  the  parlance  of  my 
office,  are  called  caustics,  because  they  vex  and  cauterize  as 
much  as  a  puff  soothes  and  pleases.  These  caustic-plates  rise 
in  severity,  so  .that  the  last  is  fifty  times  as  severe  and  abusive 
as  the  first.  All  above  forty  I  consider  a  dead  shot,  ruin- 
ing forever  those  at  whom  they  are  aimed.  They  are  equal 
to  the  racks  of  the  Inquisition,  and  make  me  as  formidable. 
.  Most  men  will  bow  rather  than  submit  to  a  shot.  But,  as  to 
the  few  that  set  them  at  defiance,  I  dispose  of  them  with  a 
blank,  which  consists  in  simply  omitting  their  names  wholly 
from  my  columns.  There  are  those  who  prefer  to  stand  fifty 
caustics  to  one  blank,  so  strong  is  their  passion  for  notoriety. 
To  be  the  devil,  and  known,  is  to  them  better  than  being  an 
angel,  incognito." 

Whereupon,  another  resolution  was  added,  to  recommend 
Pegan's  paper  as  the  universal  organ  of  conservatism. 

Mr.  Saphead  thought  the  resolutions  were  not  severe 
enough.  "Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "I  go  for  David's  policy 
of  scratching  out  the  eyes  of  a  foe.  He  says,  '  He  maketh 
my  feet  like  hens'  feet.'  " 

There  was  now  a  great  commotion  of  the  risibles  in  com- 
mittee, one  saying  hinds'1  feet,  and  another,  and  others  still, 
repeated  HINDS'  feet,  accenting  the  mistaken  word  with  great 
distinctness.  Saphead,  perplexed  at  the  interruption,  and  not 
yet  comprehending  the  cause,  yelled  out,  with  all  his  might, 


MOKE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  213 

"Didn't  I  say  HENS'  feet?"  at  the  same  time  smiting  his 
huge  chest,  and  making  it  shake  like  a  pot  of  jelly. 

"Very  well,"  said  one  and  another,  "let  him  go  on. 
Saphead  is  a  good  creature ;  he  is  one  of  us,  and  always 
means  right." 

"  Those  who  can  scratch,  dirt,  eyes,  anything  that  needs 
scratching,  are  the  men  for  me,"  continued  Saphead.  "  'He 
maketh  my  feet  like  hens'  feet.' 

"  Howsomever,  gents,  as  you  do  not  like  figures  of  speech, 
I  offer,  in  plain  English,  the  following  sentiment,  that  we 
appeal  to  Judge  Lynch.  His  is  the  only  court  to  do  justice 
in  such  cases.  With  the  encouragement  of  my  betters,  I  '11 
take  off  Bludgeon  within  twenty-four  hours.  A  score  of 
sturdy  fellows  from  Buck's  Saloon,  well  charged  with  Buck's 
best,  will  do  the  work  in  a  flash." 

"No,  no,  that'll  never  do,"  responded  some.  "It'll 
insure  the  passage  of  this  detestable  law,"  added  others. 
"  Saphead,  you  're  too  bad." 

"  What !  is  't  worse  for  us  to  tar  and  feather  Bludgeon,  and 
rail  him  out  of  town,  than  for  him  to  do  this  to  Mr.  Skamp- 
ton's  tenant  in  Mapleton  1 "  replied  Saphead,  anxious  to 
soften  down  his  proposition  as  much  as  possible  ;  whereupon 
he  resumed  his  seat,  with  labored  breathing,  like  a  harpooned 
whale.  To  the  honor  of  the  committee  be  it  said,  this  sug- 
gested assassination  received  no  countenance  from  them. 


214  MAPLETON  J     OB, 

CHAPTER  XV. 

BLUDGEON   FIGHTING   THE   DEVIL. 


• "  Now  storming  fury  rose, 


And  clamor  such  as  heard  in  heaven  till  now 
Was  never." 

"  Dire  was  the  noise 

Of  conflict.    Overhead  the  dismal  hiss 

Of  fiery  darts  in  flaming  volleys  flew, 

And  flying  vaulted  either  host  with  fire."  —  MILTOK. 

MEANTIME  Bludgeon  had  commenced  the  onset.  Expecta- 
tion, curiosity  and  the  surging  waves  of  excitement,  were  his 
harbingers.  His  place  of  meeting  was  the  largest  the  city 
could  afford,  and  was  thronged  to  its  utmost  capacity,  from  his 
first  lecture  to  the  last.  Bludgeon's  position  included  much 
more,  by  this  time,  than  that  of  reformed  drunkard,  or  trav- 
elling lecturer.  He  spake  as  one  having  authority.  He  had 
dwelt  upon  the  woes  of  mankind  till  they  all  found  a  response 
in  his  glowing  heart.  He  poured  out  scalding  tears  in  secret 
over  this  sin-blighted  world.  He  had  a  divine  commission  to 
redress  the  wrongs  of  society.  If  he  began  as  a  blackguard, 
he  ended  with  the  spirit  of  a  saint  and  a  martyr.  He  felt  the 
insufficiency  of  worldly  or  prudential  considerations,  in  deal- 
ing Avith  the  evil  passions,  opinions  and  customs  of  mankind, 
and  had  intrenched  himself  within  the  higher  sanctions  of 
religion,  God,  and  eternity.  His  satire  was  scathing,  but 
was  evidently  pointed  with  love.  He  had  come  to  rely 
mainly  upon  appeals  to  the  conscience,  by  means  of  those 
truths  and  motives  which  Christianity  supplies,  in  which,  on 
some  occasions,  his  pathos  and  power  equalled  those  of  White- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       215 

field,  or  any  of  the  clerical  lights  of  a  former  age.  And  yet, 
he  never  merged  himself  in  the  staid  habits  and  professional 
sanctity  of  a  clergyman ;  but  was  free,  excursive,  sometimes 
low  and  vulgar,  and  altogether  more  effective  with  the  un- 
thinking rabble  than  he  would  have  been  with  less  to  offend 
good  taste,  and  more  to  gratify  a  fastidious  refinement. 

Though  Bludgeon  began  as  a  temperance  lecturer,  he  had 
become  a  battle-axe  upon  all  mal-practice  in  individual  and 
community,  in  family  and  neighborhood,  in  church  and  in 
state,  in  slavery  and  in  freedom,  his  lectures  being  desultory 
harangues  against  general  and  specific  evils.  His  beginning 
was  in  a  subdued  tone,  cool,  unimpassioned,  and  apparently  in 
a  chastened  and  benevolent  state  of  feeling.  His  tonsils, 
swollen  by  much  speaking,  rendered  his  voice  hoarse  and 
husky,  like  the  croaking  of  a  crane,  or  like  the  tones  of  a 
cracked  bell  muffled ;  and  yet  it  had  a  marvellous  effect  on 
the  nerves  of  an  audience.  No  matter  how  crowded,  how 
discordant  its  elements,  or  how  bitter  the  malignity  raging 
against  himself,  a  few  sentences,  pronounced  in  his  peculiar 
manner,  would  produce  the  stillness  of  death.  In  manner 
he  was  rough,  uncouth,  and  eccentric.  His  training,  under 
such  a  mother  and  in  such  a  family,  was  but  too  visible.  A 
delicate  mind  heard  him  with  more  pain  than  pleasure.  But 
these  disadvantages,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  rather  increased 
the  effect,  just  as  sawing  off  a  muscle  jars  more  terribly  than 
dissecting  it  by  means  of  a  keen  surgical  instrument.  Dis- 
gusted or  otherwise,  the  cases  were  rare  in  which  persons, 
cultivated  or  uncultivated,  hearing  him  once,  did  not  feel  a 
mysterious  desire  to  hear  him  again.  The  magic  of  his  in- 
fluence was  so  irresistible  that,  in  rain  or  sunshine,  in  snow 
and  sleet,  in  mud  and  water,  his  audiences  were  alike  over- 
whelming. His  harangues  were  at  first  plain  and  practical, 


216  MAPLETON;   OR, 

delivered  in  the  spirit  of  love  and  zeal,  and  of  a  character 
deeply  to  impress  the  heart.  They  were  faithful,  pungent, 
and  powerful  in  application.  He  was  minute  in  describing 
the  various  phases  of  a  man's  downward  career  in  vice.  The 
effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  vital  organs,  in  changing  them  from 
scarlet  to  crimson,  and  from  crimson  to  purple,  and  from  pur- 
ple to  blue,  and  from  blue  to  the  black  of  gangrene  and 
putrefaction,  was  represented  to  the  audience  in  a  succession 
of  drawings,  on  which  his  remarks  were  always  graphic  and 
powerful.  He  not  only  developed  the  anatomy  of  intemper- 
ance, but  its  moral  feelings,  tracing,  with  terrible  accuracy, 
the  ten  thousand  windings  of  the  human  heart,  accompanied 
by  appeals  so  searching,  excoriating  and  irresistible,  that 
every  dormant  fear  was  awakened,  every  latent  memory  of 
violated  vows  suggested,  every  smothered  aspiration  after 
temperance  and  virtue  was  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
intensity.  Thus,  in  a  short  time,  he  had  gathered  around 
him  an  invincible  band,  whose  confidence  in  their  leader  was 
unbounded,  whose  zeal  had  the  fault  of  being  excessive,  if 
that  were  possible  in  such  a  cause,  and  who  were  prepared  to 
go  with  him  to  death  in  doing  battle  upon  the  rampant  wick- 
edness of  the  world. 

This  spirit  Bludgeon  fanned  by  all  the  arts  at  his  com- 
mand, pouring  out  vials  of  scalding  wrath  upon  those  who 
came  not  up  to  the  measure  of  his  own  views  as  to  the  evils 
of  intemperance,  the  necessity  of  the  Maine  Law,  and  the  obli- 
gation and  power  of  the  total  abstinence  pledge,  as  a  specific 
against  this  vice.  His  body-guard  he"  gathered  up,  for  the 
most  part,  from  the  gutters,  and  from  the  hells  of  intemper- 
ance. They  were  men  that  felt  the  evils  of  the  monster,  as 
nothing  but  experience  can  make  one  feel.  Buck's  Saloon 
contributed  a  large  proportion  of  them,  and  Whittemore  more 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        217 

than  won  his  bet.  Some  of  them  gave  up  their  whole  time, 
going  from  house  to  house,  groggery  to  groggery,  and  scat- 
tering the  fire  of  feeling  on  the  all-absorbing  topic  in  every 
direction.  The  pathos  and  interest  which  they  breathed  into 
their  work  exceed  our  powers  of  description.  The  woes  of 
the  world  had  become  their  own.  Their  sympathy  in  drunk- 
ards and  drunkards'  families  derived  intensity  from  their  own 
bitter  recollections.  Contact  with  them  was  sure  to  impart 
the  infection  of  their  zeal  for  reformation.  The  flame  of 
feeling  followed  in  their  train,  as  burning  hamlets  and  vil- 
lages a  stream  of  volcanic  fire.  The  harangues  of  Bludgeon 
were  the  impulsive  centre  of  the  mighty  movement.  His 
very  person  was  a  battery  which  his  enemies  feared  to  en- , 
counter.  It  was  an  iron  frame,  set  on  fire  by  a  mighty  idea, 
and  the  pregnant  lightnings  played  around  his  features  and 
flashed  from  his  eyes  in  volleyed  power.  Bullets  are  not  the 
most  effective  missiles  to  be  hurled  at  a  foe.  The  genius  of 
Napoleon  was  reckoned  equal  to  a  hundred  thousand  charging 
grenadiers.  The  intellectuals  and  morale  have  a  force  ex- 
ceeding all  physical  warfare.  Thus  with  Bludgeon's  shots. 
They  were  aimed  with  more  than  the  deadly  certainty  of 
modern  artillery,  taking  effect  upon  the  strong-hold  in  which 
vice  and  sin  have  intrenched  themselves.  Public  sensation 
rose  so  high,  through  the  efforts  of  his  forlorn  hope  and  his 
own  excoriating  appeals,  that  all  the  nerves  of  feeling  among 
a  hundred  thousand  people  were  twinging  and  twanging  like 
the  overstrained  chords  of  a  harp,  giving  forth  notes  of  acqui- 
escence, or  resistance,  according  to  the  character  and  social 
position  of  those  from  whom  they  came.  Already  the  num- 
ber who  had  taken  the  pledge  amounted  to  many  thousands. 
The  groggeries  were  abandoned,  and  the  liquor-dealers  were 
in  the  greatest  consternation. 
19 


218  MAPLETON;    OB, 

Now,  therefore,  Bludgeon  felt  himself  prepared  for  a  bold 
push,  and  accordingly  gave  hotice  that  on  a  certain  evening 
he  should  expose  by  name  those  who  were  in  various  ways 
lending  themselves  to  the  vices  of  alcohol.  He  should  attack 
certain  public  houses  in  which  the  monster  kennelled,  and 
should  reveal' deeds  of  which  the  public  had  no  mistrust. 
This  notice  was  received  by  the  abandoned,  far  and  near,  and 
especially  by  hotel-keepers,  as  a  formal  challenge ;  and,  dread- 
ing exposure  by  their  fearless  assailant,  they  were  driven  to 
desperation,  and  prepared  for  a  sanguinary  defence.  Society 
was  stirred  up  from  its  deepest  caverns,  and  its  troubled  ele- 
ments dashed,  and  foamed,  and  raged,  and  lashed  their  ada- 
mantine barriers,  as  when  an  earthquake  breaks  up  the  bed 
of  the  sea,  and  drives  its  waters  into  new  channels  and 
cavities. 

Two  events  now  occurred  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
movement,  and  to  render  the  community  the  more  disposed  to 
tolerate  this  dangerous  expedient  of  attacking  private  charac- 
ter, upon  which  Bludgeon  had  been  precipitated,  in  the  intem- 
perance of  his  zeal.  One  of  these  events  had  respect  to  the 
Skampton  convention,  and  the  other  to  Buck's  Saloon.  That 
convention  had  suffered  a  most  mortifying  depopulation, 
through  the  general  rush  to  Bludgeon's  lectures.  The  lead- 
ers, galled  by  their  waning  influence,  employed  the  most 
attractive  and  distinguished  speakers  to  discuss  their  founda- 
tion principles,  and  thus  restore  to  themselves  the  errant  pop- 
ulace. But  it  would  not  work.  There  was  no  thunder  in 
their  principles,  and  none  in  their  souls.  At  length,  one  of 
those  untoward  events  happened  to  which  all  deliberative  as- 
semblies are  subject,  to  turn  the  laugh  upon  them,  and  to  an- 
nihilate their  little  remaining  influence.  In  the  progress  of 
these  brilliant  speeches  on  the  refining  and  ennobling  effects 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       219 

of  alcoholic  beverages,  on  the  social  amenities  of  which  they 
are  the  instrument,  on  their  influence  upon  our  civilization, 
and  the  certainty  that  we  shall  revert  to  barbarism  without 
them,  on  the  health  they  promote,  and  the  diseases  inevitable 
to  their  disuse,  and  much  more  in  the  same  strain,  Sap- 
head,  animated  by  the  discussion,  got  the  floor,  and  perpe- 
trated one  of  those  bulls  which  were  common  to  him.  Think- 
ing to  be  very  impressive,  he  began  abruptly,  saying, 

"Friends,  did  you  ever  see  a  railroad  start?  Yes;  I 
s'pose  you  have.  Well,  they  goes  glib ;  so  this  ere  business 
goes  glib ;  wine  goes  glib ;  Buck's  best  goes  glib ;  it  makes 
us  feel  nice;  it  gi's  strength  to  the  weak;  it  gi's  health  to  the 
sick ;  it  gi's  motion  to  the  tongue ;  it  gi's  ideas  to  the  mind ;  it 
gi's  good  cheer  to  the  faint.  '  Give  strong  drink  to  the  heavy 
heart,'  says  Paul ;  and  he  knows  better  than  fifty  Bludgeons." 

As  if  this  speech  were  not  enough  for  the  mortification  of 
the  rum  leaders,  it  was  followed  by  one  from  Tooney,  whose 
bacchanalian  travels  had  brought  him  to  the  city,  where  he 
did  enough  to  get  the  means  of  keeping  himself  drunk.  In 
squalid  wretchedness,  without  collar  or  cravat,  and  in  the 
filthy  attire  of  a  drunkard  throughout,  bloated  in  face,  inflamed 
and  watery  in  eye,  and  trembling  in  his  whole  frame,  he  rose, 
staggering  to  the  top  of  his  seat,  and,  in  spite  of  efforts  to  the 
contrary,  delivered  himself  thus,  in  confirmation  of  Saphead's 
speech : 

"  Yer  honors,  that 's  my  mind,  'xactly.  I  have  had  more 
'xparance  than  any  ither  mother's  son  o'  ye.  On  me  sowl, 
I  lif  by  the  good  cratur.  He  makes  me  cha'ary ;  he  gifs  me 
stringth;  plase  yer  honors,  he  do." 

This  speech  was  followed  by  a  roar  of  laughter,  and, 
appearing  in  the  dailies  of  the  next  morning,  it  set  the  wholo 
city  agog,  at  the  expense  of  Skampton  and  his  convention. 


220  MAPLETON;    OR, 

The  other  event  was  thus  related  to  Bludgeon  in  a  note, 
which  reached  him  just  as  he  was  rising  to  begin  his  lecture. 

"  SIR  :  Cathburt  is  found.  A  servant  at  Buck's  went 
into  the  back-yard,  to  draw  water,  and  found  his  body  float- 
ing in  the  well.  He  has  this  moment  been  taken  out.  He 
lies  in  the  room  where  the  gamblers,  it  is  supposed,  made  him 
their  victim.  His  poor  father  and  mother  are  frantic  with 
grief." 

Bludgeon  began  his  lecture  by  reading  this  note,  and  an 
assault  upon  Buck's  Saloon  the  most  scorching  and  terrible. 
From  that  day  forth,  Buck  wandered  as  a  ghost  in  his  own 
abandoned  haunts,  till  be  was  ejected,  and  committed  to 
prison  for  forging  a  draft  to  relieve  himself  from  debt.  The 
greatest  nuisance  in  the  city  thus  perished,  without  hope. 
The  parents  of  Cathburt  had  come  in  search  of  their  son,  and 
stood  at  the  top  of  the  well  when  his  lifeless  body  was  drawn 
up.  Such  a  scene  is  easier  imagined  than  described.  The 
loss  of  their  only  son,  the  robbery  of  his  money, —  now  first 
ascertained  by  searching  his  pockets, —  a  childless  old  age  of 
penury  in  prospect,  and,  more  than  all,  the  self-accusation  of 
having  ever  allowed  their  son  cards  as  an  amusement,  which 
had  fitted  him  to  be  taken  in  the  snare,  all  together  concurred 
to  inflict  wounds  on  their  parental  feelings  which  could  never 
be  healed.  Bludgeon  set  on  foot  a  subscription  to  take  up 
their  mortgage,  and  headed  it  with  the  liberal  sum  of  five 
hundred  dollars, —  more  than  all  he  was  worth,  but  which  he 
was  enabled  to  pay  through  the  contributions  of  his  friends. 
The  five  thousand  dollars  were  soon  raised,  and  enough  in 
addition  to  pay  all  expenses ;  and  the  poor  old  people  were 
sent  on  their  way  with  all  the  alleviation  to  be  derived  from 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  221 

such  an  act  of  benevolence.  The  faithfulness,  zeal  and  liber- 
ality of  Bludgeon,  in  this  case,  tended  immeasurably  to 
increase  his  power. 

The  time  at  length  arrived  for  Bludgeon's  appointed  onset 
to  begin.  Skampton  and  his  followers,  having  now  no  other 
resource  left  them,  resolved  to  attend  on  the  occasion  in  a 
body,  confident  that  his  attacks  on  personal  character  would 
furnish  the  means  of  silencing  their  enemy  by  suits  at  law. 
Consequently,  the  audience  was  immense.  The  largest  rail- 
road depot  had  been  obtained  to  accommodate  it,  and  it  was 
thought  that  not  less  than  eight  thousand  persons  were 
crowded  into  it.  Expectation  was  on  tiptoe,  and  excitement 
up  to  welding  heat.  Indeed,  what  was  said  owed  its  effect 
not  so  much  to  anything  in  itself  as  to  the  previous  train  of 
events,  and  the  absolute  confidence  of  success  which  animated 
the  leader  and  his  assailing  host.  There  is  no  courage  like 
that  which  arises  from  the  sense  of  maintaining  right  against 
wrong.  "  The  righteous  are  as  bold  as  a  lion." 

When  the  rum  convention  arrived,  in  all  the  pomp  of  pro- 
cession, they  were  surprised  to  find  seats  reserved  for  them 
in  a  body,  and  no  signs  of  timidity  evinced  on  account  of  their 
presence.  They  expected  to  see  Bludgeon  cower  before  so 
august  a  presence ;  whereas  he  seemed  hardly  aware  of  it,  so 
intently  was  he  absorbed  in  higher  interests.  The  audience 
was  made  up  of  all  kinds  of  characters, —  drunkards,  gam- 
blers, extortioners,  liars,  infidels  of  every  grade,  scoffers,  pro- 
fane swearers,  libertines,  and  all  the  wrecks  and  pests  of  soci- 
ety, as  well  as  of  the  decent  and  the  virtuous.  The  latter 
had  come  from  curiosity,  or  to  aid  the  cause  of  reform,  while 
the  former  determined  to  protect  themselves  from  the  dreaded 
exposures,  even  if  they  had  to  do  it  with  the  blood  of  him  who 
should  venture  to  make  them.  Interspersed  among  the  out- 
19* 


222  MAPLETON;  OR, 

cast  multitudes,  here  and  there,  were  Bludgeon's  forlorn 
hope,  or  body-guard,  with  whom  he  had  arranged  to  help 
him,  in  the  event  of  a  tumultuous  outbreak.  The  audience 
being  duly  seated,  and  ready,  Bludgeon  rose  coolly  and  fear- 
lessly, while  the  stillness  of  death  reigned  on  every  hand. 
He  stood  on  a  platform,  near  the  centre  of  a  sea  of  heads. 
The  bleak  winds  of  March  howled  around  the  vast  structure, 
and,  amid  the  awe-inspiring  sounds,  now  distinctly  audible 
from  the  deep  silence,  Bludgeon  exclaimed,  abruptly, 

"  I  beheld  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven ! " 

His  eyes  flashed  fire  as  he  spoke,  and  his  pale,  haggard 
face,  and  croaking  voice,  betokened  a  man  from  the  tombs 
rather  than  from  the  activities  of  the  living  world.  The 
audience  were  electrified  by  the  first  onset. 

"  Such,  my  friends,  is  what  I  behold  in  you  this  night," 
said  Bludgeon,  his  action  giving  the  impress  of  reality  to  his 
words.  "  This  is  as  clear  to  me  as  the  fall  of  Satan  was  to 
our  great  Master.  Falling  from  pleasure,  from  wine,  from 
lust,  from  honor,  from  virtue,  from  hope,  sweet  hope,  that 
comes  to  all,  down,  down,  down,  to  deep,  dark,  eternal 
infamy,  where  pleasure  is  pain,  where  wine  becomes  a  burn- 
ing pestilence  within,  where  lust  ends  in  rottenness,  honor  in 
shame,  virtue  in  incurable  vice,  and  hope  in  the  blackness  of 
despair ;  where  the  scalding  drops  of  incensed  justice  will  fall 
upon  you  forever  ! " 

Starting  up,  with  a  shudder,  at  what  he  had  depicted,  with 
streaming  eyes,  and  a  countenance  now  beaming  love  and 
solicitude,  he  added, 

"  I  come  to-night,  my  friends,  to  arrest  you  in  this  dan- 
gerous fall.  I  come  to-night  to  assure  you  that  total  absti- 
nence from  the  vice  which  kills  will  be  its  cure.  But  you 
hate  me ;  you  lie  about  me.  You  say  that  Bludgeon  is  a 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  223 

knave  and  a  deceiver ;  that  he  is  after  your  money,  and  not 
your  happiness.  0,  my  friends !  if  your  slanders  were  true, 
think  you  I  should  stand  pleading  with  you  till  my  lungs  are 
so  sore  that  when  I  have  spoken  one  word,  I  know  not  that  I 
can  speak  another,  and  laboring  so  constantly  that  if  I  get 
four  hours'  sleep  in  the  twenty-four  I  think  myself  well  off?" 

"  Here 's  two  lies  for  you  to  nail,  Pegan,"  said  Skampton, 
in  a  low  voice ;  "  lungs  too  sore  to  speak,  yet  all  the  time 
bawling ;  four  hours'  sleep ;  mark,  Pegan  ! " 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  Pegan,  with  a  start  and  a  twitch,  "I'll 
nail  'em ! " 

"  And  all  this,"  continued  Bludgeon,  "  for  what?  For  my 
bread,  and  clothes,  and  lodging,  which,  I  protest,  is  all  I  have 
had  so  far." 

"Another  lie,  Pegan,"  said  Skampton;  "mark  it!  mark 
it!" 

"  It 's  marked,"  rejoined  Pegan;  "I  shall  get  ammuni- 
tion for  my  gun  to-night." 

By  this  time  Bludgeon  had  conciliated  every  feeling  in  the 
house,  except  those  of  the  rum  convention,  so  far  as  such 
characters  were  capable  of  conciliation  by  such  a  speaker. 

The  history  and  fall  of  Satan  were  now  announced  as  his 
theme.  Satan,  he  said,  was  an  impersonation  of  evil  in  man, 
and  more  especially  of  alcohol,  which  was  the  soul  of  wicked- 
ness; and  if  that  could  once  be  exorcised,  the  body  and 
members  of  the  monster  would  die ;  an  ultraism  natural  to 
one  so  exclusively  occupied  with  a  particular  cause  of  crime 
and  misery.  Bludgeon's  logic  and  theology  are  far  from 
being  models.  In  giving  a  history  of  Satan,  he  touched  upon 
every  recollected  case  and  form  of  the  abuse  of  wine  or  alco- 
holic drinks,  from  Noah's  drunkenness  to  this  day ;  a  theme, 
any  one  may  imagine,  as  graphic  and  powerful  as  could  pos- 


224  MAPLETON;    OR, 

sibly  fall  to  the  lot  of  such  an  orator.  It  was  a  night  of 
drunkenness  that  erased  great  Babylon's  walls  from  their  firm 
foundation.  It  was  as  the  consequence  of  drunkenness  that 
Canaan's  posterity  were  accursed ;  and  every  slave  that  clanks 
his  chains,  from  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  to  Cape  Horn,  is  a 
memento  of  this  damning  sin.  These  loose  positions  of 
Bludgeon,  in  the  manner  of  his  using  them,  were  not  without 
their  effect  in  his  discourse  as  a  whole.  It  was  a  graphic 
generalization,  under  which  all  the  specific  evils  of  alcohol,  in 
the  historv  of  nations  and  races,  were  made  to  fay  in  like  the 
inferior  stones  of  an  arch,  to  give  strength  and  stability  to 
the  whole.  His  description  of  its  effects  in  individual  cases 
was  more  reliable,  searching,  and  powerful.  He  followed 
the  drunkard  from  his  first  glass,  till  found  wallowing  in  the 
gutter,  haunted  by  devils  in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens,  or  dis- 
solved into  the  lurid  fires  of  hell  by  spontaneous  combustion. 
He  pointed  out  its  effects  upon  the  nervous  system,  in  creat- 
ing desire  and  appetite  over  which  the  drunkard  has  no  con- 
trol, and  which  is  sure  to  precipitate  him  upon  his  ruin,  unless 
a  physical  impossibility  is  interposed  to  intercept  the  flow  of 
the  bane  to  his  lips.  Nothing  but  the  Maine  Law,  executed 
by  vigorous  hands,  in  pouring  the  damning  bane  into  the  gut- 
ter, and  in  remanding  the  harpies  to  prison  who  prey  upon 
the  vices  of  society,  he  said,  can  meet  the  exigences  of  a 
case  like  this.  These  and  all  of  his  points  he  illustrated  by 
pertinent  anecdotes,  which  now  convulsed  his  audience  with 
laughter,  and  now  bathed  it  in  tears,  thus  swelling  the  tide 
of  excitement,  till  it  rose  above  all  bounds,  and  defied  re- 
straint. His  own  feelings,  also,  waxed  more  and  more 
intense  with  his  advancing  argument,  his  manner  became 
more  and  more  vehement,  and  his  hearers  seemed  to  have  lost 


MORfr  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  225 

sight  of  the  relations  of  time  and  place,  in  their  absorbing 
interest  in  the  images  presented  to  their  view. 

By  this  time,  to  compare  great  things  with  small,  Bludgeon 
had  a  ten  thousand  horse  power  all  concentrated  in  himself, 
and  which  he  could  wield  with  one  of  his  fingers.  What  was 
remarkable  in  his  case,  his  self-possession  increased  with  the 
excitement,  and  he  had  more  shrewdness  in  wielding  his  ter- 
rible machinery  than  any  other  man,  or  even  himself,  in  the 
calm  of  his  retirement.  Now  he  was  ready  for  his  assault.  It 
was  nine  of  the  night.  The  winds  still  breathed,  and  whistled, 
and  raged  without ;  and,  in  the  excited,  apprehensive  state 
of  tke  audience,  the  very  creaking  of  the  building  in  which 
they  were  assembled  seemed  the  shriek  of  some  falling 
drunkard,  as  he  made  the  final  plunge  of  his  hopeless  vice. 
The  images  of  agonized  fathers,  mothers,  wives,  husbands, 
children,  deploring  the  doom  of  rum's  victims,  and  of  devils 
exulting  over  it,  seemed  depicted  in  the  air '  they  breathed, 
and  to  swarm  around  them  like  the  flies  of  summer,  to  preclude 
all  possible  objects  besides,  and  to  overwhelm  them  with  a  sense 
of  this  greatest  of  national  calamities, —  drunkards,  drunk- 
enness, and  the  detestable  liquor-traffic.  Bludgeon  paused. 
All  was  still,  but  it  was  the  stillness  that  portends  the  hurri- 
cane. Half-suppressed  groans  and  wailings  were  heard  from 
those  who  now  felt,  as  never  before,  the  danger  to  their 
drinking  friends.  The  speaker's  burning  eyes  glanced  and 
flashed  from  one  end  of  the  vast  concourse  to  the  other,  as  if 
searching  for  the  point  where  to  begin  his  personal  onset. 

At  length,  catching  the  features  of  Gilfort,  who  sat  trem- 
bling by  the  side  of  Skampton,  he  called  out  his  name  with  a 
voice  like  the  sound  of  doom,  saying,  "  You  hypocrite,  you 
deceiver,  you  human  devil,  rioting  in  the  spoils  of  innocence 
and  the  wrecks  of  character,  where  are  the  souls  whom  you 


226  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

have  ruined,  by  rum  ?  The  gutter  already  swarms  with  your 
victims.  The  prison,  where  you  ought  to  be  yourself,  holds 
those  whom  you  have  tempted  to  crime.  Your  dark  schemes 
of  money-digging,  your  nocturnal  orgies,  your  extortions  of 
money  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  your  religious  fraud  to  cheat 
men  into  the  purchase  of  your  lands,  and  all  the  black  arts 
by  which  you  have  hitherto  sustained  an  accursed  existence, 
testify  against  you.  Is  it  not  better  for  you  to  come  to  a 
solemn  pause,  and  take  the  pledge  not  only  not  to  drink  more, 
but  not  to  cheat,  not  to  lie,  not  to  palm  off  upon  the  ignorant 
your  pious  tricks,  but  to  become  henceforth  a  man  of  tern  • 
perance  and  of  virtue  ?  But  you  fall,  I  see  you  fall,  from 
pleasure,  from  influence,  from  hope,  from  your  schemes  ot 
self-aggrandizement  and  all  the  alluring  baits  of  this  nether 
world,  into  a  drunkard's  grave  and  a  drunkard's  hell !  " 

Gilfort,  pale  with  excitement,  and  lost  to  the  consciousness 
of  himself  or  his  position,  muttered,  incoherently,  "God  have 
mercy  on  me  !  I  'm  a  devil,  sure  enough  !  Cursed  life,  this  ! 
Alas,  for  my  miserable  training!  " — meantime  jumping  up, 
to  do  he  knew  not  what. 

"  Sit  down,  Gilfort,"  said  Skampton,  not  comprehending 
the  cause  of  his  excitement;  "don't  mind  the  braying  of 
that  ass!" 

The  commotion  was  now  general.  Skampton's  voice  recov- 
ered Gilfort  to  a  sense  of  his  position,  and  he  started  to  go 
out.  But  Bludgeon,  mistaking  it  for  a  desire  to  come  forward 
to  take  the  pledge, —  no  uncommon  thing  with  an  audience 
under  great  excitement, —  called  out,  "Make  way  for  him! 
Open  there  to  the  right  and  left !  Let  the  stricken  wolf 
relieve  his  conscience  !  He  may  become  a  sheep,  yet.  But 
no, —  he  goes!  he  goes!  "  added  Bludgeon,  as  he  saw  him 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  227 

making  for  the  door.     "All  is  over  with  him.     He'll  come 
to  a  miserable  end  !  " 

At  this,  a  cry  of  "Stop  thief!  Stop  thief!"  resounded 
through  the  vast  area.  All  eyes  looked  whence  it  came. 
It  was  Dohson,  who,  rapt  in  the  magic  of  the  speaker's 
influence,  believed  him  -supernaturally  directed  to  Gilfort  as 
the  swindler  of  his  money.  In  this  he  was  confirmed  by 
Gilfort  escaping ;  and,  with  head  bare,  locks  dishevelled,  and 
eyes  flaming  with  insanity,  he  started  in  pursuit,  floundering 
through  the  throng,  and  at  the  same  time  calling  out,  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  "  Stop  thief !  Stop  thief!  Seize  him  !  He  's 
taken  my  money !  Seize  him  !  "  The  violence  of  the  outcry 
excited  the  rabble  round  the  door  to  attempt  the  arrest  of 
Gilfort,  thinking  him  a  pickpocket  who  had  just  perpetrated 
some  depredation  within.  But  Gilfort,  by  dint  of  strength, 
forced  his  athletic  form  through  the  midst,  and  thus  made  his 
escape  by  one  of  the  doors. 

' '  Where  is  he  1  —  where  is  he  1 "  cried  a  hundred  tumult- 
uous voices,  as  he  vanished  from  view. 

"  He 's  here,"  cried  one,  with  an  oath. 

"No, —  he's  here,"  said  another.  "Come  on! — come 
on!" 

"No,  by  all  that's  good  and  gracious!"  cried  a  third; 
"  he  went  out  by  this  door." 

"  He  's  a  pickpocket !  "  said  one. 

"  You  're  a  liar  !  "  rejoined  a  stout  fellow;  "  and,  if  you 
say  that  again,  I  '11  gouge  your  eyes  out." 

"He's  a  villain!"  said  twenty  voices  at  once;  and 
as  many  more  affirmed  him  to  be  an  honest  man,  whom 
Bludgeon  had  slandered. 

"Can't  slander  such  as  he,"  replied  another,  and  received 
a  blow  in  the  face  for  answer,  which  he  returned ;  and  thump. 


228  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

thump,  thump,  went  the  fists,  and  bruised  noses  and  flowing 
blood  mingled  in  the  dismal  melee.  Now  Dobson  entered 
the  lists,  still  vociferating  "Stop  thief!  stop  thief!"  when 
he  received  a  thrust  from  a  bowie-knife  from  a  secret  hand, 
which  changed  his  cry  into  the  doleful  exclamation  of  "  Mur- 
der !  murder !  murder !  God  have  mercy  on  my  soul !  I  am 
a  dead  man!  " 

All  this  was  done  sooner  than  the  telling,  Bludgeon  mean- 
while maintaining  his  position  with  unwavering  self-posses- 
sion, and  holding  with  magic  eye  the  sympathies  of  the 
audience,  till  quiet  was  restored.  He  prepared  to  resume. 
His  eye  now  rested  on  Pegan,  who  was  posted  in  a  conspic- 
uous position,  for  the  convenience  of  taking  notes.  Pegan 
had  admitted  to  his  paper  many  scandalous  things  against 
Bludgeon,  which  infused  the  more  gall  into  this  assault. 
Fixing  his  searching  gaze  on  the  little  great  man,  he  said, 
"  Thou  enemy  of  all  righteousness, —  thou  child  of  the  devil ! 
What !  —  here  to  gather  lies  for  your  polluted  columns  ? 
Your  intrigues  are  known.  Your  pufis,  caustics  and  blanks, 
I  defy  them  all !  When  has  alcohol  instigated  a  crime  of 
which  you  was  not  the  abettor  ?  Buck's  Saloon  owed  its 
power  to  your  pen.  You  have  written  Cathburt  dead,  his 
parents  childless  and  penniless,  and  filled  the  land  with  the 
victims  of  your  dark  conservatism!"  Pegan  dropped  his 
pen,  and  hopped  about  the  floor  like  a  decapitated  hen,  till  he 
finally  escaped. 

Next  came  Skampton's  sentence,  to  whom  Bludgeon  cried 
"Blood!  blood!  blood!"  with  a  thrilling  effect  that  no 
other  mortal  knew  how  to  produce  with  that  word.  "  Blood 
from  the  grave  of  the  Durhams  cries  against  you  for  ven- 
geance. Blood  from  the  dust  of  Robson,  blood  from  the 
dust  of  Jollops,  blood  from  the  maw  of  the  Kamtschatka 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  229 

•whales,  blood  from  pole  to  pole,  has  sealed  your  doom ! " 
This,  with  the  excitement  of  the  occasion  and  the  scrutiny 
of  so  many  thousand  eyes,  was  more  than  Skampton  could 
endure,  and  he  too  escaped,  muttering,  "Law,  law,  law '11 
silence  that  ass  !  " 

By  this  time  the  young  men  who  were  witnesses  to  the 
Cathburt  robbery  had  acquainted  Bludgeon  with  all  the  facts, 
to  which  Senator  Whittemore  had  added  those  which  passed 
under  his  observation.  All  these  he  proceeded  now  to  detail, 
that  the  citizens  might  understand  the  real  nature  of  the  resort 
which  legislation  and  the  laws  had  licensed  and  established  in 
the  midst  of  them.  A  darker  picture  cannot  be  conceived 
than  the  one  now  sketched  to  the  audience,  which  produced 
an  involuntary  response,  "Down  with  the  license  law  !  Down 
with  the  license  law  !  Give  us  the  Maine  Law  !  Break  up 
the  hells  !  Pour  the  poison  into  the  gutter  !  " 

Gripe,  Bobbin  and  their  crew,  were  present,  and  whetted 
to  the  keenest  edge  of  exacerbated  feeling.  Murder  was  in 
their  hearts.  They  called  to  one  another  to  assist  in  drag- 
ging the  scoundrel  from  the  stand.  "Do  it! — -do  it!" 
said  Bludgeon.  "  I  defy  you  all !  I  will  die  on  the  spot,  be- 
fore I  '11  yield !  Ye  vipers  !  ye  sharks  of  society,  whose 
breath  is  pestilence,  and  whose  words  are  daggers, — come 
on !  —  come !  I  dare  you  to  the  attack  !  My  blood  will  seal 
your  doom !  " 

His  courage  produced  a  panic  among  them,  and  they  with- 
drew. But  when  they  reached  the  open  air  their  daring 
revived,  whetted  up  by  their  comrades,  who  had  remained 
without  the  most  of  the  evening,  and  had  not  felt  to  an  equal 
extent  the  magic  of  Bludgeon's  influence.  Here  they  all 
entered  into  a  solemn  oath  to  assassinate  him  before  he  left 
the  stand.  One  of  their  number,  more  conscientious  than 
20 


I 

230  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

the  rest,  seeing  how  things  would  go,  caused  the  following 
note  to  be  slipped  under  the  eye  of  the  speaker  : 

"  SIR  :  —  More  than  three  hundred  stand  without,  ready  to 
assassinate  you  at  a  preconcerted  signal.  The  signal  is  the 
firing  of  a  pistol.  ONE  THAT  KNOWS." 

Bludgeon  read  the  note  to  the  audience,  and  called  on  his 
friends  not  to  be  alarmed,  to  stand  to  their  post,  and  deliver- 
ance would  certainly  come. 

"  Prudence  dictates  your  escape,"  said  a  friend,  privately. 

"  Shall  such  a  man  as  I  flee  ?"  exclaimed  Bludgeon,  aloud. 

In  a  moment  the  pistol  exploded.  A  shriek  rose  up  from  all 
parts  of  the  vast  concourse,  as  a  band  of  assassins,  with  their 
gleaming  steel,  rushed  through  the  passages.  Bludgeon  com- 
manded and  produced  a  profound  silence,  great  as  the  danger 
was.  The  mesmerism  of  his  eye  was  proof  against  steel. 
Gripe,  the  leader  of  the  band,  felt  it  as  a  bear  is  said  to  feel 
the  power  of  an  unflinching  human  eye,  and  he  cowered 
before  the  undaunted  champion  of  temperance. 

"I  know  your  plans,"  said  Bludgeon.  "It  is  to  stain 
your  polluted  souls  with  my  innocent  blood.  I  see  your 
gleaming  daggers,  but  I  heed  them  not.  No !  I  had  as  lief 
die  to-night  as  at  another  time.  Let  my  blood  seal  my 
message  against  the  rum  traffic.  I  love  the  people  whom  you 
rob.  God  is  near,  and  his  shield  is  my  protection.  He  will 
not  let  me  die  by  your  hands.  He  has  more  work  for  me. 
He  will  smite  you." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  open  space  around  the 
platform,  and  were  screwing  up  their  courage  to  mount  it ; 
when,  overawed  by  the  associations  of  the  scene,  and  still 
more  by  the  dauntless  spirit  of  their  victim,  they  hesitated. 


MOKE    WORK   FOR    THE   MAINE   LAW.  231 

"  God  Almighty  smite  thee  !  "  said  Bludgeon  to  Gripe,  as 
their  eyes  met,  when  the  latter,  through  excitement  and 
panic,  reeled,  staggered,  and  fell  to  the  floor.  This  terrified 
the  rest  of  his  crew,  and  they  slunk  away  from  view,  and 
left  Bludgeon  in  the  undisputed  possession  of  the  field. 
Gripe  was  carried  to  the  hospital,  where  he  died  before  morn- 
ing, it  was  thought  by  the  special  visitation  of  God.  But 
the  drinking  habits  of  the  man,  the  guilt  of  Cathburt's  death, 
the  breaking  up  of  Buck's  Saloon  as  his  only  remaining 
haunt,  and  his  nocturnal  revels  and  habitual  sleeplessness,  all 
concurring  with  the  tempest  of  his  mind  during  Bludgeon's 
harangue,  are  sufficient  to  account  for  his  sudden  and  awful 
death,  without  the  intervention  of  miracle. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

LOVE   BETTER  THAN  DENUNCIATION. 
As  we  fall  in  various  ways,  and  sink, 


So  manifold  and  various  are  the  ways 

Of  reformation,  fashioned  to  the  steps 

Of  all  infirmity,  and  tending  all 

To  the  same  point,  —  attainable  by  all,  — 

Peace  in  ourselves,  and  union  with  our  God." 

WORDSWORTH. 

SARAH  HARCOURT  was  as  ignorant  as  Charles  Douglass 
of  the  real  cause  of  their  separation.  The  facts,  so  far  as  to 
her  appeared,  were  these :  Not  fifteen  minutes  after  their 


232  MAPLETON;  OR, 

last  parting,  her  father  entered  her  room,  and  inquired, 
"Where  is  Douglass?" 

"  Just  gone,  dear  father,  and  not  to  return  till  Monday." 

"Not  till  Monday!"  he  said,  with  apparent  surprise; 
"then  it  's  all  over.  "We  shall  not  see  him  again,  at  present; 
for  we  must  leave  in  an  hour  for  New  York." 

"For  New  York,  father?  In  an  hour?  What  do  you 
mean?"  said  Sarah,  perfectly  thunderstruck. 

"  Mean,  my  love  ?  I  mean  this, —  that  if  we  are  not  there 
as  soon  as  steam  can  carry  us,  you  will  be  shuffled  out  of 
your  maternal  inheritance.  I  have  this  moment  received 
intelligence  to  that  effect." 

"I  cannot  go,  father.  You  can  go,  and  do  the  business 
for  me.  I  had  rather  lose  it  all  than  go  at  this  time." 

"  That  's  out  of  the  question,  my  daughter.  Your 
presence  is  necessary  to  prove  your  identity  by  a  living  wit- 
ness there,  as  the  Sarah  Harcourt  who  inherits,  in  her 
mother,  Louisa  Selden's  right.  As  to  your  throwing  away 
this  property,  Sarah,  I  shall  not  hear  to  it  a  moment.  Go 
you  must." 

"  I  have  an  engagement  with  Mr.  Douglass  on  Monday, 
and  cannot  go  till  I  see  him." 

"  You  can  write  him,  Sarah,  and  explain  all.  Mr. 
Douglass  is  a  reasonable  man,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  satisfied. 
If  he  had  been  here  when  I  entered  the  room,  as  I  supposed, 
he  would  have  urged  your  departure  as  earnestly  as  I  do. 
Go,  Sarah,  we  must,  and  that,  too,  within  an  hour,  or  we 
shall  not  reach  the  cars  in  time.  Sit  down  this  moment  and 
write  Douglass  your  explanation.  A  servant  shall  carry  your 
note  this  very  afternoon." 

Sarah  saw  there  was  no  alternative,  and  she  wrote,  stating 
the  cause  of  her  leaving  so  suddenly,  promising  to  write  him 


MORE  WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE  LAW.  233 

again  soon,  and  beseeching  him  to  have  a  letter  in  waiting 
for  her  in  New  York  when  she  arrived,  as  she  might  be  com- 
pelled to  rest  by  the  way.  This  matter  disposed  of,  they  set 
off,  with  all  possible  speed,  by  private  conveyance,  for  the 
railroad  station,  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  Mr.  Har- 
court  took  the  precaution  of  going  by  a  way  to  elude  detection 
as  much  as  possible,  nor  did  they  stop  till  the  carriage  set 
them  down  at  the  station.  They  rode  all  that  night ;  and 
yet  the  first  thing  that  Sarah  did  at  the  hotel  where  they 
breakfasted  was  to  despatch  a  letter  to  Douglass,  informing 
him  of  the  kind  manner  in  which  her  father  had  spoken  of 
him,  and  that  he  might  rest  as  secure,  she  thought,  as  if  they 
were  formally  betrothed  with  the  parental  consent  and  bless- 
ing. She  concluded  with  saying,  "Though  my  body  is 
weary  and  my  eyes  heavy  with  sleep,  and  though  this,  tmr 
unexpected  separation,  is  a  trial  of  trials,  yet  I  have  the 
sweet  assurance  that  my  mother's  God  will  watch  over  me 
and  over  you,  and  that  we  shall  yet  be  made  useful  and 
happy  in  each  other's  society." 

After  a  hasty  breakfast,  she  retired  to  rest,  and  slept  calmly 
and  sweetly  over  one  train,  when  they  entered  the  cars  again, 
and  did  not  leave  them  till  they  reached  the  endless  din  of 
the  great  metropolis.  Sarah  found  things  to  correspond,  so 
far  as  to  her  appeared,  to  the  previous  representations  of  her 
father.  An  old  lady  examined  certain  marks  of  her  person, 
and  gave  in,  under  oath,  that  she  was  the  veritable  daughter 
of  Louisa  Selden,  the  wife  of  James  Harcourt,  and  heiress 
to  the  Selden  estate.  The  forms  of  law  gone  through  with, 
Mr.  Harcourt  took  possession  of  the  estate  in  due  form. 
Miss  Harcourt' s  maternal  family  was  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  early  Puritan  emigrants.  The  homestead 
of  her  grandparents  was  an  old-fashioned  mansion  on  the 
20* 


234  MAPLETON;    OR, 

banks  of  the  Hudson,  some  distance  above  the  city.  It  was 
invested  with  cultivated  groves  of  nearly  a  century's  growth, 
through  which  the  antique  structure  looked  down  with  im- 
posing effect  on  the  beautiful  river.  They  found  it,  on  their 
arrival,  in  a  state  of  majestic  decay,  from  having  been  long 
occupied  by  aged  persons,  who  felt  little  interest  in  the  im- 
provements of  present  luxury  and  splendor.  The  faded 
glory  of  a  former  age  was  more  congenial  to  its  occupants 
than  modern  ornament  and  invention.  Harcourt  proceeded 
at  once  to  make  such  changes  as  his  fancy  dictated.  The 
rooms  were  fitted  up  in  the  most  costly  style  ;  the  walls  lined 
with  magnificent  mirrors ;  the  floors  provided  with  the  richest 
quality  of  Turkey  carpeting  for  winter,  and  with  the  finest 
Indian  matting  for  summer;  all  after  the  newest  and  most 
approved  models.  Splendid  chandeliers  hung  from  the  ceiling; 
musical-boxes  stood  on  the  brackets  and  side-tables ;  the  win- 
dows were  hung  with  costly  drapery ;  the  gilt  balconies  were 
filled  with  the  rarest  exotics  and  flowering  plants ;  and  sing- 
ing birds  were  provided,  to  pour  their  mellifluous  notes  through 
the  rooms  and  halls,  to  regale  and  delight  the  luxurious 
inmates. 

"Alas  !  no  letter  from  Charles.  Why  does  he  not  write? 
Is  he  sick?  Have  my  letters  failed?  Impossible!  some  must 
have  reached  him.  0,  my  heart  of  hearts !  where  is  Charles, 
that  he  deigns  no  token  to  his  doting  Sarah? — no  word,  no, 
not  one  —  not  one !  " 

Such  were  the  plaints  of  Miss  Harcourt,  amid  all  these 
splendid  preparations.  Her  father  met  the  case  with  all  his 
address ;  said  he  would  make  immediate  inquiries ;  presumed 
that  Douglass  meant  soon  to  surprise  her  with  a  visit,  or  that 
he  was  devoting  himself  to  his  profession ;  or  something  of 
the  kind  prevented  his  writing. 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  235 

"You  are  young,  my  daughter,  and  Mr.  Douglass  has 
years  of  preparation  yet  before  him.  If  you  should  not  hear 
from  him  till  he  gets  through,  it  cannot  prevent  your  union, 
if  you  are  destined  for  each  other.  Be  patient,  my  child,  be 
patient;  this  is  .just  the  ordeal  you  need,  and  you  '11  both  see 
whether  the  root  of  the  matter  is  in  you,  and  you  really  have 
the  foundation  for  permanent  esteem.  This  misgiving  in 
you  is  a  doubtful  omen;  but  we  shall  see." 

Sarah  cherished  too  fondly  the  hope  of  returning  to  the 
plantation  to  admit  of  her  feeling  much  pleasure  in  these 
costly  preparations.  That  was  her  home.  She  loved  its 
seclusion.  It  was  associated  with  her  fondest  recollections ; 
and  though  her  father  had  given  no  intimation  of  a  design  to 
remain  in  New  York,  yet  all  these  repairs  but  too  clearly 
revealed  what  was  in  his  mind,  and  were  consequently  less 
interesting  to  her.  Besides,  her  tastes  did  not  incline  her  to 
such  a  use  of  money.  Intellectual,  moral,  and  religious 
pleasures  were  far  more  captivating  to  her  feelings.  The 
claims  of  the  poor  were  also  ever  present  to  her  thoughts. 
A  large  number  of  them  were  now  near  her  home,  and  could 
be  reached  in  her  daily  walks.  Some  were  intemperate,  and 
needed  the  soft  hand  of  love  to  conduct  them  to  virtue. 
Money  would  be  a  great  solace  to  their  needy  families,  some 
of  whom  were  sick,  and  all  in  a  state  of  destitution  such  as 
had  never  before  fallen  tinder  Sarah's  observation.  She  set 
about  doing  what  she  could  in  their  behalf,  and  the  event 
proved  how  much  more  effective  a  personal  care  of  the 
drunkard's  habits  and  wants,  to  convince  him  you  love  him 
and  desire  to  do  him  good,  is,  than  sweeping  denunciations,  as  a 
means  of  reclaiming  him  to .  temperance.  Denunciation  may 
plough  the  ground,  but  it  is  the  watch-care  of  love  and 
charity  that  sows  the  seed,  that  waters  the  plants,  that  pro- 


236  MAPLETON;    OK, 

tects  them  against  incursive  enemies,  and  reestablishes  the 
prostrated  mind  and  character  of  a  drunkard  in  virtue  and . 
peace.  No  vice  has  hitherto  been  deemed  more  hopeless  than 
this,  for  the  good  reason  that  we  had  failed  to  estimate  the 
utter  inability  which  it  induces  to  a  life  of  temperance,  so 
long  as  the  cup  is  offered  at  every  turn,  and  nothing  is  done 
to  restore  its  unhappy  victims  to  their  lost  position  in  society. 
As  soon  as  the  cup  is  made  more  inaccessible  by  stringent 
temperance  laws,  and  friendship  supplies  to  the  inebriate  the 
requisite  stimulants  to  sobriety,  by  exercising  a  care  over  him 
and  by  giving  him  the  place  among  us  which  we  assign  to  a 
loved  one  who  has  become  feeble  in  mind  or  in  body,  then  this 
vice  will  no  longer  be  considered  hopeless.  Miss  Harcourt's 
efforts  tended  this  way,  and,  so  far  as  they  went, — for  a  lady, 
of  course,  could  not  be  expected  to  do  all  the  case  demanded, — 
they  were  far  more  hopeful  than  the  bold  and  excoriating 
denunciations  of  Bludgeon. 

She  soon  found  herself  with  so  much  work  of  this  kind  on 
hand,  in  the  thronged  population  near  her  new  home,  that 
she  felt  jealous  of  the  money  which  her  father  was  so  pro- 
fusely lavishing  upon  their  ancestral  mansion.  Had  her 
wishes  been  consulted,  it  would  have  been  expended  in  carry- 
ing out  her  plans  of  relief  for  the  suffering,  and  of  reform  to 
the  vicious.  Her  own  room,  in  which  she  spent  most  of  her 
time,  was  a  little  one-story  wing,  extending  back  from  the 
main  building  in  a  circular  form,  with  corresponding  furni- 
ture; while  externally  it  was  enclosed  by  a  conservatory, 
whose  beautiful  foliage  and  flowers  diffused  an  odor  around 
like  the  breezes  of  "  Araby  the  blest."  It  was  neatly  fur- 
nished, but  not  on  the  costly  scale  of  the  other  rooms,  as  she 
protested  to  her  father  that  her  taste  must  here  be  consulted. 
This  was  her  Bethel.  Here  her  books  of  instruction,  enter- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       237 

tainment  and  devotion,  were  collected.  Here  she  found  from 
prayer  her  only  means  of  reconciliation  to  the  late  shock  to 
her  sensibilities.  What  right  have  we  to  yield  to  moping 
melancholy  when  our  wishes  are  crossed,  so  long  as  the  Cre- 
ator, with  his  infinite  resources,  is  left  to  us,  and  is  willing  to 
honor  our  draughts  of  confiding  faith  and  importunate  prayer  ? 
A  love-becrazed  mind  is  one  in  which  God  is  dethroned  and 
an  idol  substituted  in  his  place.  Such  was  Miss  Harcourt's 
reasoning.  Never  was  devotion  more  deep  and  sincere  than 
hers  to  Douglass,  resulting  from  a  mysterious  sense  of  fitness 
to  each  other,  which  began  in  childhood ;  but  then,  with  her 
it  was  subordinate  to  the  higher  claims  of  Him  whose  they 
both  were,  and  whom  they  were  bound  to  serve. 

Many  young  persons,  in  entering  a  great  city  with  every 
advantage  of  wealth,  personal  accomplishments,  and  distin- 
guished family  connections,  would  have  yielded  to  the  rush 
of  worldly  and  selfish  desires,  would  have  merged  themselves 
in  the  joys  of  sense,  and,  after  a  round  of  years,  would  have 
come  out  with  a  wasted  constitution,  a  corrupted  heart,  and 
with  every  imaginable  disqualification  for  peace  or  usefulness. 
The  faith  of  Miss  Harcourt  was  her  security,  an  inheritance 
of  brightest  promise  from  her  sainted  mother,  whose  memory 
was  the  bow  of  hope,  spanning  the  clouds  of  sorrow  and  dis- 
appointment. Besides  the  poor,  she  had  no  acquaintances  in 
her  own  immediate  neighborhood,  except  with  the  family  of  a 
resident  from  a  foreign  court,  to  whom  she  was  introduced 
rather  by  accident  than  design.  In  this  family  was  a  daughter 
of  princely  character,  whose  manners  had  taken  their  cast 
from  the  intercourse  of  distinguished  European  society.  A 
young  man  by  the  name  of  De  Lisle  was  a  frequent  visitor 
in  the  same  family,  and  the  means  of  introducing  Sarah  to  it. 
De  Lisle  was  born  to  a  titled  inheritance  and  to  great  wealth, 


238  MAPLETON;   OR, 

but  was  one  of  those  rare  cases  in  which  republican  principles 
are  made  the  occasion  for  abjuring  such  advantages,  in  order 
to  return  to  the  level  which  nature  has  established  between 
man  and  man. 

"  A  natural  aristocracy,"  he  would  say,  "  I  do  not  object 
to.  Those  who  are  really  the  best  ought  to  be  esteemed  so. 
But  to  flourish  through  life  in  the  borrowed  drapery  of  the 
dead,  and  assume  supercilious  airs  from  the  mere  accident  of 
birth,  is  too  much  for  my  pride."  And,  finding  his  native 
country  uncongenial  to  the  growth  of  such  sentiments,  he  had 
abandoned  it  to  try  his  fortunes  in  the  New  World,  and  to 
work  his  way  to  a  distinction  which  he  was  too  proud  to 
borrow  from  his  ancestors.  De  Lisle  assumed,  therefore, 
an  untitled  name,  and  cautiously  concealed  the  accident  of 
his  birth.  He  was  a  young  man  of  truly  noble  principles, 
who  had  drunk  deep  into  ancient  and  modern  learning,  and 
whose  republicanism,  like  Milton's,  was  derived  from  the 
communion  of  mind  in  all  ages. 

This  young  man  had  frequently  met  with  Mr.  Harcourt 
and  his  daughter  in  their  morning  walks.  Sarah  still  retained 
her  love  of  out-door  life  —  often  taking  long  walks  with  her 
father,  sometimes  going  along  the  margin  of  the  river,  and 
sometimes  among  the  contiguous  farms  and  groves.  On 
these  occasions  De  Lisle  would  often  fall  in  with  them, 
attracted  at  first  by  the  engaging  person  of  Miss  Harcourt, 
but  afterwards  by  the  extraordinary  turn  of  her  conversation. 
It  was  a  page  he  had  never  read,  and  he  wished  to  study  it. 
As  Sarah's  heart  always  overflowed  with  a  piety  and  benevo- 
lence which  seemed  to  have  become  her  very  life,  so  her 
conversation  spontaneously  partook  of  the  same,  and  even  her 
countenance  and  whole  being  were  continually  throwing  out, 
without  effort  or  design  on  her  part,  the  coruscations  of 


MORE   AVORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  239 

heavenly  light.  No  one  who  has  seen  the  utmost  that  Chris- 
tianity has  done  and  is  doing  for  personal  elevation,  will 
deem  this  an  overwrought  picture. 

De  Lisle  had  seen  the  pomp  and  ceremony  of  religion.  He 
had  felt  the  inspiration  of  massy  pillars,  time-hallowed  cathe- 
drals, the  deep  gloom  of  their  shaded  windows,  the  thunder- 
ing bass  of  their  organs,  the  chime  of  pealing  hells,  deluging 
the  landscape  with  sound,  and  all  these  magical  contrivances 
for  overawing  the  sense  and  imagination.  He  had  been 
familiar  with  the  cant  of  dissent,  and  the  various  forms  in 
which  sect  and  schism  offer  to  Heaven  their  conflicting  devotions. 
But  the  purity  of  the  evangelical  spirit,  apart  from  cant  and 
sectarian  contrivance,  he  had  never  seen,  till  he  witnessed  it 
in  the  person  of  Sarah  Harcourt.  The  contemplation  of  it 
charmed,  astonished,  and  confounded  him.  It  had  depths 
which  he  felt  himself  unable  to  fathom,  heights  he  could  not 
surmount,  and  a  width  and  length  which  he  could  not  com- 
prehend. How  a  young  person,  with  every  endowment  of 
wealth,  and  every  accomplishment  of  person,  unscathed  by 
disease  and  unblighted  by  sorrow,  should  withdraw  from  all 
those  circles  in  which  she  was  so  eminently  fitted  to  shine, 
not  from  the  morbid  promptings  of  a  perverted  conscience, 
not  from  the  dread  of  divine  vengeance,  not  from  the  ascetic 
ambition  of  a  saint's  renown,  but  because  she  professed  herself 
too  happy  to  need  them,  he  could  not  understand.  "What 
is  the  nature  of  this  happiness,  which  is  so  independent  of  the 
ordinary  sources  of  enjoyment?  and  whence  comes  it?"  were 
questions  which  he  often  revolved  in  his  mind.  "  If  there  is 
anything  of  the  kind  which  is  real,  and  not  fictitious,  then  we 
have  something  to  put  in  the  place  of  those  pleasures  which 
are  the  great  lure  to  vice.  We  have  a  counter  excitement  of 
felicitous  feeling,  to  meet  those  mental  cravings  which  seek  to 


240  MAPLETON;  OR, 

slake  themselves  in  wine,  in  scenic  representations,  and  in  a 
thousand  ways,  which  to  untold  multitudes  end  only  in  crime 
and  misery."  So  reasoned  De  Lisle. 

He  hoped  to  unravel  the  matter  by  means  of  Miss  Julia, 
the  young  lady  to  whom  we  have  alluded,  and  hence  said  to 
her :  "  I  am  surprised  you  do  not  make  the  acquaintance  of 
Miss  Harcourt." 

"  What !  in  love  ?  "  said  Julia,  laughing. 

"  No ;  not  till  I  know  what  I  am  loving." 

"  Why,  you  will  love  as  pretty  a  girl  as  the  world  affords, 
if  I  may  judge  from  my  occasional  glimpses  of  her." 

"  If  that  were  all  that  was  needed  to  elicit  one's  love,  I 
need  not  look  beyond  present  company." 

"  0  you  are  so  complimentary !  But  love,  you  know,  is 
blind,  and  has  his  freaks." 

"  I  will  venture  his  freaks,  Miss  Julia,  if  you  will  unravel 
the  mystery  of  a  happiness  so  independent  of  the  ordinary 
food  by  which  happiness  subsists.  Miss  Harcourt  seems  to 
have  a  happiness  that  makes  yours  and  mine  tasteless,  and  I 
would  be  glad  to  know  what  it  is." 

"  Does  she  assign  this  as  a  reason  for  keeping  aloof  from 
the  gayeties  of  the  town  ?  " 

"  She  does,  and  that  too  with  so  much  sincerity,  that  I  am 
bound  to  believe  her." 

"  But  what  can  I  do  to  unravel  the  mystery  1 " 

"  0,  you  ladies  have  a  tact  in  finding  out  each  other  which 
we  have  not." 

"  Well,  I  will  do  what  I  can  to  interpret  the  riddle." 

Accordingly,  Miss  Julia  soon  after  called  and  made  Sarah's 
acquaintance.  A  mutual  interest  and  intimacy  grew  up 
between  them,  though  in  education,  habit,  and  especially  in 
religion,  they  were  totally  unlike.  Julia  was  gay,  volatile, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        241 

and  in  the  highest  degree  extravagant  in  her  notions  of  ances- 
tral origin  and  personal  dignity.  She  seemed  to  regard  dis- 
tinctions of  rank,  and  station,  and  enlarged  resources  of  worldly- 
pleasure,  the  most  exalted  possession  to  be  hoped  or  desired. 
Still,  she  was  a  generous,  great-souled  girl,  to  whom  such 
low  conceptions  of  the  end  of  living  were  uncongenial,  and  the 
growth  merely  of  a  preposterous  education.  The  same  cir- 
cumstances under  which  Sarah  had  been  placed,  and  especially 
the  same  maternal  influence,  might  have  made  Miss  Julia,  in 
humility,  in  meekness,  in  piety  and  in  faith,  equally  remark- 
able, equally  brilliant.  Alas !  how  many  never  rise  above 
the  pleasures  of  sense,  who  might  have  shone  as  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude  in  the  spiritual  galaxy  !  If  they  stop  short 
of  a  career  of  open  vice,  still  they  travel  the  road  that  leads 
thousands  and  millions  to  that  dismal  goal.  Yea,  by  their 
example  they  help  others  forward  to  the  ruin  from  which  their 
own  constitutional  moderation  secures  them.  And  they  do 
it  because  they  are  educated  to  feel  that  there  is  no  other  way 
of  finding  pleasure.  To  gratify  De  Lisle.  Julia  invited  Sarah 
to  tea  on  the  ensuing  Thursday  evening.  "  And  I  shall 
expect  you  to  be  present,"  she  said  to  that  gentleman.  "  You 
need  not  think  to  make  me  your  clerk,  to  read  her  for  you." 

"  That  will  not  do,"  said  De  Lisle.  "  My  presence  would 
seal  the  document." 

"  Seal  the  document !  Mr.  De  Lisle?  No.  I  see  you  do  not 
understand  Miss  Harcourt.  She.  is  all  openness,  all  frank- 
ness. Her  lips  are  never  sealed  to  any  one,  much  less  against 
you,  of  whom  she  entertains  so  high  an  opinion." 

"  A  high  opinion  of  me  !  What  do  you  mean?  We  never 
met  except  in  our  rural  rambles,  when  we  were  under  the 
restraint  of  her  father's  presence,  who,  I  see,  has  no  sym- 
21 


242  MAPLETONJ    OE, 

pathy  with  her  peculiar  views.  He  is  a  mere  man  of  the 
world,  like  the  rest  of  us." 

"  Well,  Miss  Harcourt  speaks  of  the  respect  and  confidence 
with  which  you  have  inspired  her." 

"  How  came  she  to  say  that  ?  " 

"  Why,  I  told  her  we  should  have  only  a  family  party  at 
tea,  except  yourself,  a  particular  friend.  And  she  expressed 
herself  pleased  with  the  prospect  of  meeting  one  in  whose 
conversation  she  had  been  so  much  interested." 

"  Thanks  to  my  stars !  then  I  am  to  be  my  own  inter- 
preter." 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

WOMAN'S  MISSION. 

"And  to  the  Presence  in  the  room  he  said, 
'  What  writest  thou  ? '    The  vision  raised  its  head, 
And,  with  a  look  made  all  of  sweet  accord, 
Answered,  '  The  names  of  those  that  love  the  Lord.' 
'  And  is  mine  one  ? '  said  Abou.     '  Nay,  not  so,' 
Replied  the  angel.     Abou  spoke  more  low, 
But  cheerly  still,  and  said,  '  I  pray  thee,  then, 
Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow-men.'  " — LEIGH  HUNT. 

IT  was  the  union  of  qualities  which  De  Lisle  had  deemed 
subversive  of  each  other  that  excited  his  interest  in  Miss 
Harcourt, —  zeal  and  gentleness,  austerity  and  sweetness,  a 
repulsive  severity  to  sin,  with  tenderness  to  the  sinner;  a 
saintly  and  severe  hold  upon  the  realities  of  eternity,  with 
a  buoyancy  of  spirits  bordering  on  gayety  and  mirthfulness. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       243 

Hers  was  not  a  piety  to  make  people  miserable,  but  a  stock 
in  bank,  upon  which  any  might  draw  at  will.  Her  peace 
with  Heaven  was  not  purchased  at  the  expense  of  peace  on 
earth  and  good-will  towards  men.  Her  attractions  of  person 
were  set  off  with  a  conversation  that  administers  grace  to 
them  that  hear.  She  was  not  faultless,  though  she  seemed 
so,  above  most  others,  because  her  religion  was  associated 
with  humanity,  and  her  piety  with  benevolence.  It  was  this 
aspect  of  her  character  that  excited  De  Lisle's  curiosity,  and 
it  was  probably  the  same  that  provoked  the  inquiry  of  old  as 
to  the  reason  of  the  Christian's  hope.  When  religion  repu- 
diates humanity,  disfigures  itself  by  cant,  makes  a  merit  of 
gloomy  interjections  and  indelicate  attacks  upon  the  prejudices 
of  a  man  of  the  world,  as  if  to  be  very  pious  is  to  be  very 
disagreeable,  how  can  it  win  for  itself  the  respect  of  man- 
kind? 

"  Glad  to  see  you  at  last,  Mr.  De  Lisle,"  said  Julia,  as 
that  gentleman  joined  the  proposed  party.  "What  are  we 
ladies  without  you  lords  of  creation?" 

"Much,  every  way,"  said  De  Lisle,  laughing. 

"  I  hope  you  mean  it  in  a  good  sense,"  said  Julia. 

"  I  mean  that  you  and  Miss  Harcourt  are  too  fertile  in 
conversation  to  need  my  contributions." 

"  Conversation  has  certainly  prospered  without  you,"  said 
Sarah,  "  but  how  much  more  with  you  !  " 

"  It  can  never  flag  where  you  are,  Miss  Harcourt,"  said 
Julia. 

"  Not  when  you  are  present  to  call  it  out,"  said  Sarah. 

"I  see  you  mean  to  be  pleased  with  each  other,  and  am 
only  surprised  that  your  acquaintance  did  not  begin  sooner." 

"  Custom  would  impute  the  fault  to  the  older  resident,  I 
suppose,"  said  Julia. 


244  MAPLETON;  OB, 

"  It  is  not  your  fault,  Miss  Julia.  Our  social  relations 
have  taken  us  in  opposite  directions." 

"  True,  contiguity  of  location  seldom  unites  those  of  oppo- 
site tastes,"  said  De  Lisle;  "but  you  have  tastes  alike,  I 
think,  and  will  easily  coalesce." 

"I  mean  it  shall  not  be  my  fault  if  we  do  not,"  said 
Sarah. 

"But  it  seems  to  us  mysterious,  Miss  Harcourt,  that  we 
do  not  meet  you  in  our  places  of  amusement.  It  is  precisely 
this  circumstance,  that  I  am  interested  in  them  and  you  are 
not,  which  has  kept  us  so  long  unacquainted.  Confluent 
currents  are  sure  to  mingle." 

"Perhaps  Miss  Harcourt  is  too  much  occupied  with 
literature,  poetry,  or  the  fine  arts,  to  admit  of  her  mingling 
in  the  scenes  of  which  you  speak,"  said  De  Lisle. 

"I  am  fond  of  them,  sir;  but  these  do  not  keep  me  from 
the  amusements  of  which  you  speak.  I  have  no  relish  for 
them,  and  besides,  they  are  many  of  them  prejudicial  to 
virtue  and  happiness.  It  would  please  my  father  to  have  me 
go,  but  as  he  sees  me  so  happy  without,  he  is  content." 

"  No  relish  for  amusements  !  That  is  very  strange  in  one 
of  your  years,"  said  De  Lisle. 

"  I  like  amusement,  sir,  but  not  those  of  which  you  speak. 
I  love  to  be  out  among  the  trees,  the  foliage,  the  flowers  ;  to 
breathe  the  sweet  breath  of  morning ;  to  sport  along  the 
shore ;  and  in  many  ways,  at  home  and  abroad,  to  recreate 
myself.  It  makes  my  heart  purer,  my  head  clearer,  and  my 
spirits  more  elastic.  But  the  impure  atmosphere  of  theatres, 
operas,  assemblies,  and  all  those  scenes  .of  exciting  and 
crowded  concourse,  I  could  not  endure.  Besides,  my  con- 
science cannot  approve  what  leads  so  many  to  dissipation  and 
ruin." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       245 

' '  I  can  comprehend  how  you  should  acquire  a  distaste  by 
staying  away  on  account  of  the  death  of  a  friend,"  said 
Julia ;  "for  I  stayed  at  home  once  myself  for  this  reason, 
till  I  lost  my  relish." 

"  I  have  lost  no  very  near  friend  since  my  mother's  death, 
some  years  ago.  But  that  need  not  deter  me,  even  if  it  had 
occurred  within  a  week,  provided  it  were  right  to  go  at  all." 

"  Not  your  mother's  death  !  "  said  De  Lisle. 

"  My  mother's  death  was  more  joyful  than  gloomy,  and 
interposed  no  barrier  to  any  consistent  recreation." 

"  In  what  respect  was  it  joyful  1 "  said  Julia. 

"  Because  it  was  the  end  of  a  troubled  and  the  beginning 
of  a  blissful  life." 

"  Your  mother  died  in  the  Church  ?  "  said  De  Lisle. 

"  She  died  in  the  faith  of  a  Christian,  sir,  with  heaven 
distinctly  in  view,  and  the  certainty  of  happy  society  above. 
If  your  mother  left  you  to  visit  the  friends  of  her  youth,  you 
might  regret  her  absence,  but,  at  the  same  time,  you  would  be 
glad  of  the  pleasure  she  had  in  prospect.  This  pleasure  I 
feel  in  the  death  of  my  mother." 

"I  never  saw  a  person  die,"  said  Julia;  "I  could  not 
endure  the  sight." 

"  My  dear  Miss  Julia,  you  would  not  say  so,  if  you  had 
seen  my  mother  die." 

"What  was  remarkable  in  her  dying?"  inquired  De 
Lisle. 

In  answer  Sarah  frankly  stated  the  facts  already  mentioned, 
adding,  "  My  amusement  I  find  in  living  to  die  thus." 

".A  beautiful  death  !  "  said  Julia,  wiping  her  falling  tears. 

"  A  wonderful  death  !  "  said  De  Lisle,  still  more  affected. 
"  Pray,  Miss  Harcourt,  what  is  the  secret  of  dying  thus? 
I  should  be  glad  to  have  such  a  death  too." 
21* 


246  MAPLETON;    OK, 

C£  Faith  in  the  gospel  is  the  only  secret.  It  is  the  faith  of 
meeting  friends  that  makes  us  so  happy  under  the  fatigue  of 
a  journey  to  the  home  of  our  childhood.  Dying  would  be 
insupportable  without  the  faith  of  heavenly  society." 

They  were  here  interrupted  by  the  inquiry  at  the  door  for 
Miss  Harcourt ;  and,  in  a  moment  more,  a  poor  but  neatly- 
dressed  girl  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  entered  the  room,  and  said, 
with  tears  in  her  eyes,  that  her  mother,  she  feared,  was 
dying,  and  would  be  glad  to  see  Miss  Harcourt. 

"  Where  does  your  mother  live^  "  inquired  Sarah. 

"  Sixty-five,  Blank-street,  in  the  third  story.  Go  up  two 
flights  of  stairs,  and  when  you  reach  the  landing  of  the 
second,  enter  the  left-hand  door." 

This  was  said  with  much  modesty,  and  with  the  signs  of 
some  deep  and  incurable  sorrow. 

"What  ails  your  mother,  my  child?"  inquired  Sarah. 

"  0,  I  don't  know,"  said  the  child,  the  tears  beginning  to 
flow  amain  ;  ' '  she  is  sick ;  her  breath  is  almost  gone,  and  the 
fever  is  burning  her  up.  Will  you  come,  miss? " 

"  Certainly.     Will  it  do  in  the  morning?  " 

"0,  I  'm  afraid  that  would  be  too  late  !  "  said  the  girl. 

"  Very  well ;  I  will  be  there  in  an  hour." 

"  Not  so  soon ;  we  shall  not  be  through  tea,"  said  Julia. 

"  Well,  it  will  not  be  much  over  an  hour,  I  think,"  added 
Sarah,  as  the  child  left. 

"How  dare  you  go  to  a  strange  place  in  the  night?" 
said  Julia.  "  Perhaps  some  mischief  is  intended  you,  or 
there  is  pestilence  in  the  house." 

"  I  shall  take  measures  to  assure  myself  on  these  points," 
said  Sarah..  "I  am  not  without  experience  in  these  matters." 

"  You  speak  of  the  certainty  of  entering  into  better 
society  at  death,  Miss  Harcourt,"  said  De  Lisle,  anxious  to 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       247 

resume  the  conversation.  "I  cannot  see  any  such  basis  of 
certainty  as  we  feel  on  visiting  friends.  It  is  true  I  believe 
in  the  Christian  religion,  and  in  the  soul's  immortality.  But 
it  affords  me  no  such  grounds  of  realization  as  that  of  meeting 
absent  friends.  We  have  seen  those  friends,  have  enjoyed 
the  fruition  of  their  society,  and  thus  have  in  our  minds  a 
basis  for  realization.  Those  who  have  tasted  a  delicious  fruit 
once  can  anticipate  what  it  will  be  again.  But  we  have  no 
such  experience  of  heavenly  society.  Dying  is  necessarily 
a  plunge  in  the  dark." 

"  Mr.  De  Lisle,  one  fact  has  escaped  you,"  said  Sarah. 

"  What  is  that,  Miss  Harcourt?" 

"  Heaven,  to  the  believer,  is  a  present  inward  experience. 
It  is  the  love  of  God  '•  shed  abroad  in  his  heart ;'  it  is  '  Christ 
in  him  the  hope  of  glory ;'  it  is  being  '  filled  with  all  the  ful- 
ness of  God.'  What  these  passages  of  the  Bible  involve  is 
heaven,  whether  enjoved  here  or  in  another  life.  It  is  a 
mind  in  harmony  with  itself  and  all  its  relations.  And  what 
can  heaven  be  but  that?" 

"  But  how  is  it  possible  to  derive  so  much  enjoyment  from 
a  purely  ideal  good?  "  inquired  De  Lisle. 

"It  is  not  ideal,  sir;  it  is  positive;  it  is  substantial.  Is 
the  happiness  of  a  mind  in  health  any  more  ideal  than  that 
of  a  healthy  body  ?  That  is  a  morbid  state  of  mind  which  is 
never  satisfied  in  itself,  but  is  always  craving  outward  sources 
of  excitement.  Happiness  and  hope  are  the  development  of 
life  from  within,  like  the  enlargement  of  a  growing  tree ;  but 
pleasures,  in  the  usual  sense  of  that  term,  are  but  the  leaves 
appended  to  a  tree  of  wax.  You  grasp  them,  and  they  crum- 
ble in  your  hands." 

"  Then  the  state  of  your  affections  in  reference  to  God  and 
heaven  gives  you  a  distaste  for  the  gayeties  of  the  town." 


248  MAPLETON;  OR, 

"Yes;  I  am  kept  from  them  by  the  force  of  superior 
attractions.  I  might  think  many  of  these  amusements  per- 
fectly innocent.  It  is  so  with  dancing.  I  would  dance  if  I 
needed  such  an  auxiliary  of  my  happiness;  but  I  do  not. 
Besides,  I  observe  that  those  who  have  a  craving  for  such 
modes  of  enjoyment  are  betrayed  into  what  is  acknowledged 
on  all  hands  to  be  criminal.  Extreme  devotion  to  cards  ends 
in  gambling.  The  excitements  of  the  theatre  lead  to  drink- 
ing and  drunkenness.  These  pleasures  are  all  seeds,  which 
grow  up  vices ;  and  I  do  not  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  sow  such 
a  harvest.  If  you  could  see  what  I  have,  during  my  short 
stay  in  your  city,  I  am  certain  that  you  would  think  as  I  do 
^n  these  subjects." 

As  soon  as  they  had  taken  tea,  Sarah -excused  herself,  to 
fulfil  her  engagement,  and  De  Lisle  insisted  upon  accom- 
panying her.  Julia,  too,  was  so  much  interested  in  the  case, 
that  she  proposed  to  go  with  them.  A  carriage  was  ordered, 
and  they  all  went  together.  When  they  arrived  at  65  Blank- 
street,  they  found  it  a  large,  old-fashioned  house,  once  the 
home  of  opulence,  but  now  converted  into  dens  for  the  poor 
and  degraded.  The  doors  were  battered  and  broken,  with 
locks  and  latches  gone,  and  no  protection  against  rain  or 
robbers.  The  party  entered  the  hall,  but  not  a  light  was  to 
be  seen  within.  De  Lisle  felt  his  way  in  the  darkness,  till 
he  reached  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  and  began  to  ascend,  the 
ladies  following.  Julia's  heart  sunk  within  her.  On  the 
first  landing  they  were  met  by  the  poor  girl  who  had  come 
for  them,  having  in  her  hand/a  piece  of  broken  earthenware, 
with  a  small  amount  of  oil  in  it,  and  a  wick,  emitting  a  feeble 
light.  This  served  rather  to  render  the  darkness  and  desola- 
tion more  visible.  At  length  they  entered  the  left-hand  door 
of  the  upper  landing,  when  they  were  met  with  a  gust  of 


MORE  WORK   FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  249 

March  wind,  blowing  through  the  broken  panes,  which  extin- 
guished their  light,  and  enveloped  them  in  total  darkness. 
Sarah,  used  to  such  scenes,  begged  her  companions  not  to  be 
alarmed. 

"  Ma !  ma  !  "  said  the  girl ;  "  do  you  hear?" 

"  Lizzy,  love,  is  that  you?  "  said  one,  with  labored  breath- 
ing, who  seemed  scarcely  conscious ;  "is  that  you,  Lizzy?" 

"Yes,  ma;  the  lady  is  come;  she  is  here." 

"Are  you  sick,  my  good  woman?"  said  Sarah. 

"  0,  yes ;  very  sick.     Who 's  speaking  to  me  ?  " 

"Miss  Harcourt,  that  you  sent  me  for,"  said  the  child ; 
"  she  is  come  to  see  you,  ma." 

"0,  Miss  Harcourt,  I  'm  so  glad  you  are  here  !  This  is  a 
house  of  suffering  and  death.  And  you  have  been  so  kind  to 
Mrs.  Darby,  and  she  has  said  so  much  to  me  about  you,  that 
I  hoped  you  'd  be  an  angel  of  mercy  to  me,  also.  0,  I'm  so 
suffering !  my  heart 's  bursting,  and  I  have  no  one  on  earth 
to  look  to  ! " 

"My  dear  woman,  you  must  look  to  your  Father  in 
heaven,"  said  Sarah,  with  tones  of  tenderness  that  went  to 
the  heart. 

"  0,  I  have  !  I  have  !  "  said  the  woman ;  "  and  I  seemed 
to  feel  that  he  had  referred  me  to  you,  as  the  messenger  o£ 
his  mercy  to  me." 

"Miss  Harcourt,  you  must  have  a  light,"  said  De  Lisle ; 
"  I  will  go  and  order  one." 

"  I  will  go  with  you,"  said  Julia,  trembling  in  every  limb  ; 
adding,  in  a  whisper,  "  Miss  Harcourt,  you  must  go,  too.  It 
is  dangerous  for  you  to  remain  here  alone." 

"Not  in  the  least,"  said  Sarah;  "God's  poor  are  here, 
and  he  will  watch  over  us  in  taking  care  of  them.  You  had 
better  order  a  light,  Mr.  De  Lisle.  But  wait  a  moment. 


250  MAPLETON ;     OB, 

What  have  you  here,  my  good  woman  1  —  any  food  ?  clothing 
to  keep  you  warm?  What  do  you  need  most?" 

"We  have  nothing  here,  you  angel;  no  food,  no  fuel,  no 
lights,  and  not  clothing  to  keep  us  warm,"  said  the  woman. 

•'  The  shops  are  open  yet,  Mr.  De  Lisle.  Please  order 
lights,  ready-cooked  food,  fuel,  and  warm  blankets.  Here 's 
my  purse,"  added  Sarah,  feeling  her  way,  to  put  it  in  his 
hand. 

"No,  no;  I  have  enough,"  replied  De  Lisle,  in  tones 
which  indicated  emotion. 

"  Ma,  your  poor  Mary 's  cold,  cold, —  0,  how  cold  !  Lie 
close  to  me,  ma!  I'm  so  cold!"  said  a  child,  feebly,  from 
the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  with  a  rattling  in  breathing,  as 
if  its  throat  was  full  of  phlegm. 

"I  have  you  in  my  bosom,  my  tender  love !  there ;  don't  my 
Mary  feel  a  little  warmer?  "  replied  the  mother,  with  a  motion 
of  pressing  her  little  one  to  her  bosom.  Meantime,  the  sound 
of  heavy  breathing  was  heard  in  other  parts  of  the  room,  and 
the  atmosphere  would  have  been  intolerable,  but  for  the  con- 
stant currents  of  night  air  flowing  through  it.  De  Lisle  and 
Julia  hastened  after  supplies  for  this  house  of  want,  while 
Sarah  occupied  her  time  in  repeating  passages  of  scripture 
most  appropriate  to  the  case  of  the  poor  woman,  and  in  offer- 
ing prayer  for  those  higher  supplies  for  the  soul  which  God 
alone  can  impart.  The  absent  ones  soon  returned  with  a 
cheerful  light,  followed  by  a  porter  with  fuel,  food,  blankets, 
and  everything  to  meet  the  present  necessity.  The  fire  was 
soon  lighted,  the  broken  panes  stopped  with  a  blanket,  and  so 
much  comfort  as  warmth  could  bestow  was  afforded  to  the 
unhappy  inmates.  But  such  a  scene  as  the  light  revealed 
beggars  description.  Mrs.  Andrews,  the  sick  woman,  was 
lying  on  a  pallet  of  straw  in  one  part  of  the  room,  without  a 


MORE  WORK  FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  251 

covering  to  keep  her  warm,  while  her  breathing  was  like  the 
whistling  tubes  of  an  organ.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room  lay  Mrs.  Prindle,  in  much  the  same  condition,  with 
four  children  by  her,  one  of  whom  was  now  found  to  be  gasp- 
ing its  last.  Poor  Mrs.  Prindle,  seeing  the  state  of  her  child, 
sprang  to  her  feet,  the  other  three  children  following,  all  in 
rags  and  wretchedness ;  and  the  scene  which  ensued  may  be 
better  imagined  than  described. 

"0,  Mary !  Mary  !  do  speak  to  your  mother  once  more  ! 
Dear  little  murdered  one,  will  you  not  look  up  ?  will  you  not 
kiss  your  ma?" 

Then,  seizing  the  dead  child,  she  pressed  it  to  her  bosom, 
as  if  the  warmth  of  her  person  would  infuse  life  into  the  cold 
clay.  The  children,  meantime,  uttered  the  most  doleful 
plaints,  and  it  was  some  time  before  quiet  could  be  restored. 
.Food  was  offered  the  suffering  family,  which,  in  spite  of  their 
grief,  they  laid  hold  of  with  hungry  voracity,  their  haggard 
features  telling  too  plainly  how  long  such  a  solace  had  been 
denied  them. 

The  heavy  breathing  was  found  to  come  from  Andrews 
and  his  two  sons,  the  husband  and  children  of  the  sick  lady, 
and  also  from  Prindle,  the  father  of  the  dead  child.  All 
these  remained  still  in  the  sleep  of  drunkenness.  Sarah  now 
inquired  of  Mrs.  Andrews  what  had  brought  them  to  such  a 
pitch  of  wretchedness. 

"An  insatiable  love  of  amusement,  ending  in  drunkenness," 
she  said.  "  My  husband  is  a  carpenter,  and  had  a  prosper- 
ous business  in  Connecticut,  our  native  state.  His  leisure 
he  then  spent  in  public  houses,  drinking  temperately,  and 
finding  pleasure  in  every  way  he  could.  Our  sons  would 
accompany  him,  and  they  gradually  fell  into  the^ame  habits. 
T  did  what  I  could  to  induce  them  to  read,  to  find  pleasure  at 


252  MAPLETON;  OR, 

home;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  At  length,  Mr.  Andrews 
thought  this  city  would  be  a  better  place  for  his  business, 
and  we  removed  here.  This  was  our  ruin.  The  temptations 
to  pleasure  were  too  much  for  my  husband  and  sons,  and  they 
plunged  still  deeper  and  deeper  in  dissipation,  and  did  less 
and  less  for  our  support.  Dear  Lizzy  and  I  supported  the 
family  by  binding  shoes,  till  I  took  cold  and  could  work  no 
longer ;  since  which  she  has  been  our  only  support.  Driven 
out  of  house  and  home,  we  were  taken  in  by  Prindle,  an 
associate  of  my  husband.  He  could  not  pay  the  rent  of  his 
room,  and  resorted  to  this  expedient  for  relieving  himself. 
The  discomfort  of  this  place  has  aggravated  my  disease,  and 
God  only  knows  what  the  end  will  be ! " 

"You  see,  Mr.  De  Lisle,"  said  Sarah,  on  their  return 
home,  "  how  unsafe  it  is  for  a  man  to  feel  that  he  cannot 
content  himself  without  artificial  excitements." 

"  But  why  should  they  go  to  such  extremes  7-  why  not  stop 
at  a  reasonable  point?"  said  De  Lisle. 

"That  is  the  question, — why  not?"  replied  Sarah.  "It 
is  because  the  appetite  that  craves  indulgences  of  this  kind  is 
an  unhealthy  one,  and  must  end  in  evil.  It  may  not  bring 
all  to  such  a  garret,  but  it  will  inevitably  be  followed  with 
damage  in  some  way.  Theatre-going  leads  to  drinking,  and 
drinking  to  theatre-going;  card-playing  to  gambling:  noc- 
turnal assemblies  to  nocturnal  dissipation  and  premature 
death ;  and  thus  the  wrecks  of  family,  and  ruined  characters 
and  fortunes,  are  strewed  around  us  without  stint  or  measure." 

"Can  nothing  be  done  to  induce  Prindle  and  the  Andrewses 
to  change  their  habits  ?  "  inquired  Julia,  with  genuine  con- 
cern. 

"A  very  hard  case,"  said  De  Lisle,  shaking  his  head. 

"Yes;  much  may  be  done,  and  much  more  still  might  be, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       253 

if  the  state  had  not  placed  its  licensed  temptations  at  every 
corner." 

"How  will  you  go  to  work? "  inquired  De  Lisle.  "  You 
may  rely  upon  my  support,  Miss  Harcourt,  in  anything  you 
think  proper  to  attempt." 

"  And  mine,  too,"  added  Julia.  "  I  had  no  idea  of  what 
is  done  and  suffered  around  us." 

"  Well,  since  you  are  so  good  as  to  refer  the  plan  to  me,  I 
tell  you  at  once,  we  must  be  on  hand  to-morrow  morning  by 
seven  o'clock.  We  must  steal  the  march  of  the  first  dram. 
Prindle  and  the  Andrewses  will  awake  with  the  horrors.  The 
death  within  their  doors  will  concur  with  the  reaction  of 
drunkenness  to  bring  on  such  a  morning  as  they  have  never 
seen.  Their  only  means  of  relief  will  be  to  drown  them- 
selves in  the  bottle.  Our  business  is  to  step  in  at  that  pre- 
cise moment,  and  do  all  we  can  to  impart  other  comforts,  and 
inspire  them  with  other  sources  of  hope." 

Accordingly  it  was  arranged  to  meet  at  65  Blank-street,  so 
early  as  seven  of  the  next  morning.  Sarah  was  there  some- 
what in  advance  of  her  friends.  She  met  Andrews,  senior, 
in  the  hall,  with  bottle  in  hand,  and  inquired  of  him  how  his 
wife  did. 

'•A  little  better,  I  hope." 

"Be  so  good  as  to  show  me  the  way  to  your  room.  I  fear 
I  cannot  find  it  again." 

"  And  have  you  been  there  before?  "  said  Andrews. 

"Yes,— last  night." 

"0,  you  are  the  young  lady  who  has  relieved  our  suffer- 
ings," said  Andrews;  "I  '11  go  back  with  you." 

"  Yes,  Mr.  Andrews,  my  father  is  repairing  our  home- 
stead, and  I  have  come  to  engage  you  to  work  for  us." 

When  Sarah  entered  the  room,  the  first  object  that  met 
22 


» 
254  MAPLETON;     OR, 

her  view  was  the  pale  face  of  the  dead  child.  Its  father 
stood  over  it,  apparently  with  the  premonitory  symptoms  of 
delirium  tremens.  The  two  young  Andrewses  looked  stupid 
and  besotted.  Mrs.  Andrews  was  evidently  better,  relieved 
by  food  and  a  warmer  room.  Little  Lizzy  had  already  begun 
her  day's  work,  now  the  only  source  of  the  family's  support. 
Mrs.  Prindle  and  her  children  were  alleviated  in  body  by 
food,  but  sorely  afflicted  in  mind  at  the  death  of  poor  dear 
Mary.  Mr.  De  Lisle  and  Julia  soon  arrived,  accompanied  by 
a  physician.  Prindle  had  by  this  time  become  more  raving  • 
and  the  physician,  after  prescribing  to  Mrs.  Andrews,  took 
him  into  his  own  carriage,  with  much  persuasion  and  some 
force,  and  conveyed  him  to  the  hospital.  Here  he  was  con- 
fined several  weeks;  and  measures  were  taken,  when  he 
came  out,  to  induce  him  to  sign  the  temperance  pledge. 
This  he  did ;  and,  by  the  efforts  of  Miss  Harcourt,  who  never 
lost  sight  of  him,  he' was  furnished  with  a  regular  business,  by 
which  he  supported  his  own  family  in  comfort.  De  Lisle  took 
it  upon  himself  to  provide  places  for  the  young  Andrewses, 
while  Sarah  kept  their  father  in  her  employ  until  he  had  be- 
come somewhat  weaned  from  the  cup,  when  he  also  took  the 
pledge.  The  two  families  were  soon  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances, and  the  only  difficulty  was  in  keeping  them  so,  by 
removing  the  temptations  to  strong  drink.  But  how  can  this 
be  done,  with  our  present  drinking  habits  and  liquor  laws  q 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  255 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

HIGH  LIFE   BELOW   STAIRS. 

"  Her  sons  all  drank  a  little  ;  and  one  of  them  —  the  first  boy  she  had 
—  frequently  came  home  lively,  as  she  called  it."  —  THE  ADVOCATE. 

"  A  pestilent  tongue  she  had,  that  the  poor  husband  dreaded  above  all 
things  under  the  sun."  —  SIR  ROGER  L'ESTRANGE. 

THESE  incidents  and  conversations  opened  upon  De  Lisle 
new  ideas  of  life.  It  had  a  purpose  of  humanity,  a  work  of 
faith  and  labor  of  love,  and  a  patience  of  hope,  and  not 
merely  the  gratification  of  present  desires.  He  did,  indeed, 
fulfil  an  engagement  to  attend  the  theatre  with  Harry  How- 
ard, the  succeeding  evening.  That  young  gentleman  had 
been  graduated  to  a  career  of  high  living,  and  was  fulfilling 
his  destiny  on  a  scale  that  promised  a  speedy  fall.  De  Lisle 
had  no  real  congeniality  with  him ;  but  still,  they  often  met 
in  their  rounds  of  pleasure,  and  often  enjoyed  together  a 
social  glass.  Howard  saw  in  him  this  evening  something 
unusual.  He  was  abstracted,  and  seemed  little  interested  in 
the  brilliant  scene  enacting  before  them. 

"De  Lisle,"  said  Howard,  "what  the  deuce  ails  you? 
Are  you  in  love?" 

"  Does  love  make  one  insensible  to  what  is  passing  around 
him?" 

"  Certainly.  That  is  its  first  symptom.  It  wraps  the 
mind  in  its  own  delicious  ideas,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others." 

"  Then,  Howard,  you  must  set  me  down  in  love." 

"  But  who  is  the  happy  object  of  your  passion? " 

"  It  is  like  no  other  with  which  I  ever  met  on  earth." 


256  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

"  That  is  the  universal  story,  and  amounts  to  just  nothing 
at  all." 

"  You  know,  Howard,  we  lately  discussed  Gibbon's  account 
of  the  spread  of  Christianity,  when  I  expressed  the  convic- 
tion that  it  might  be  accounted  for  on  the  ordinary  principles 
of  cause  and  effect ;  but  I  now  see  reasons  for  revoking  that 
decision." 

'•'  Pray,  what  has  that  to  do  with  love?  " 

"  Much,  very  much,  with  the  kind  which  has  affected  me." 

"  Then  it  is  the  love  of  the  brethren,  I  suppose,"  said 
Howard,  with  a  sneer. 

"I  wish  it  might  be  that,  if  it  is  all  like  the  specimen  I 
have  seen." 

"  What  specimen  have  you  seen?  Is  it  a  male  or  a  female 
specimen, — a  real  or  an  ideal  one?  " 

"  0,  you  joke  in  a  case  wherein  I  feel  it  to  be  profane." 

"You  are  really  pious,  then?"  said  Howard,  shrinking 
from  him,  with  instinctive  dread. 

"  If  I  were  pious,  I  suppose  I  should  nof  be  here." 

' '  Not  here  !  Can  anything,  deserving  the  name  of  piety, 
keep  one  from  such  a  glorious  play  as  this? " 

"  If  you  knew  you  could  be  happier  somewhere  else,  could 
do  much  more  good,  and  prevent  much  more  evil,  do  you 
think  you  would  be  here?  " 

"That's  impossible." 

"  I  thought  so  once  myself,"  saidDe  Lisle,  seriously;  "but 
I  now  have  reason  to  think  otherwise." 

"And  the  reason  that  makes  you  think  otherwise  has  con- 
vinced you  also  that  miraculous  agency  was  necessary  in  the 
establishment  and  propagation  of  Christianity." 

"  Precisely  so.  I  have  seen  Christianity  on  such  wise  as 
falls  not  within  the  ordinary  scope  of  human  nature.  Nothing 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       257 

so  pure,  so  bland,  so  blissful,  so  free  from  cant  and  sectarian- 
ism, so  full  of  good-will  to  all,  so  self-sacrificing  to  reclaim 
the  vicious  and  make  the  miserable  happy,  could  arise  from 
that  grovelling,  selfish  thing,  which  I  have  found  human 
nature  to  be." 

"  Is  it  a  lady,  or  a  gentleman  ?  " 

"A  lady." 

"Is  she  beautiful?'7 

"  Yes,  as  the  morning  star,  and  lovely  as  spring." 

"Rich?" 

"  An  heiress,  I  believe." 

"  Respectably  connected? " 

"  Of  one  of  the  best  families  in  this  republican  land." 

"  Tljen  I  '11  be  bound,  De  Lisle,  something  besides  broth- 
erly love  has  to  do  with  your  feelings  in  the  case." 

"  But,  Howard,  Avhat  if  you  were  to  add  to  the  most 
beautiful,  rich,  accomplished,  respectable  and  every  way 
desirable,  young  lady  you  ever  saw,  the  embellishments  of  a 
character  so  superior  to  these  advantages  as  to  cast  them  all 
into  the  shade;  with  what  feelings  would  you  regard  her?  " 

"  What  are  these  embellishments  which  thus  render  all  the 
ordinary  food  of  love  insipid?  " 

"Labors  in  behalf  of  such  objects  of  wretchedness  as  you 
have  never  conceived,  and  faith  that  makes  death  a  triumph." 

"Faith!  faith  of  any  kind,  except  conjugal  faith,  kills 
love.  I  would  shun  it  as  I  would  a  pestilence.  It  has 
nothing  to  recommend  it  but  cant,  hypocrisy  and  prudery." 

"  But,  suppose  you  were  to  see  a  piety  cheerful,  bland,  ten- 
der, confiding,  attentive  to  the  happiness  of  all,  even  in  things 
with  which  it  could  not  agree,  and  so  happy  in  the  communion 
of  the  pure  and  the  heavenly,  and  in  exercising  all  the  vir- 
tues which  adorn  and  ennoble  human  nature,  as  to  lose  the 
22* 


258  MAPLETOX ;     OR, 

relish  of  those  pleasures  on  which  you  and  I  are  wasting  our 
fortune  and  our  lives  ;  what  would  you  say  of  it  ?  " 

"I  should  say  the  picture  is  too  perfect  to  be  real." 

"  Well,  if  you  had  an  idea  that  it  was  real,  in  a  lady  of  our 
acquaintance,  could  she  have  so  many  of  those  qualities  which 
usually  elicit  love  as  to  lead  you  to  merge  your  feelings 
towards  her  in  that  passion? " 

"The  plague  on  such  a  lady  !  Let  her  seek  her  lovers 
among  the  angels,  where  the  ancient  beauties  found  theirs." 

"  0,  you  are  not  serious,  Howard.  It  is  my  opinion  that 
no  young  man  could  be  happy  in  such  a  love,  who  did  not 
possess,  in  some  good  degree,  the  same  characteristics." 

This  sentiment  of  De  Lisle  is  no  doubt  true.  Marriage 
between  persons  whose  views  and  feelings  on  the  subject  of 
religion  are  radically  different  does  not  promise  happiness. 

Though  these  sketches  of  Miss  Harcourt's  life  in  New 
York  extend  over  a  period  of  a  few  years,  yet  it  was  a  much 
less  time  than  this  that  Douglass  remained  ignorant  of  her 
fate.  The  pain  of  suspense  which  she  felt  till  she  heard  from 
him  was  increased  by  the  fear  of  having  done  him  a  wrong, 
by  allowing  herself,  for.  any  cause,  to  be  separated  from  him, 
at  a  crisis  of  their  intercourse  so  delicate  and  peculiar.  As 
to  the  effect  upon  him,  she  was  long  left  to  conjecture.  Still, 
her  plans  of  doing  good  and  her  confidence  in  God  preserved 
her  from  unavailing  regrets.  She  made  few  acquaintances 
beyond  the  immediate  calls  of  duty.  Her  introduction  to  De 
Lisle  and  Julia,  uncongenial  as  they  were  in  some  respects, 
proved  a  real  comfort  to  her.  The  nature  of  some  does  more 
than  the  grace  of  others  to  make  them  agreeable  companions. 
Mrs.  Dunstable,  a  woman  of  vulgar  ideas  and  a  low  origin,  but 
of  sufficient  wealth,  inherited  and  accumulated,  to  support  her 
insufferable  pretensions  to  high  life,  illustrated  the  truth  of 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  259 

this  remark,  if  her  connection  with  the  church  could  be  re- 
ceived as  a  sign  of  grace.  She  was  volatile  and  pretending ; 
a  saint  in  the  winter  and  a  sinner  in  the  summer ;  a  wine- 
drinker,  but  a  temperance  talker  ;  a  pretended  refrainer  from 
worldly  amusements  in  her  own  city,  but  mad  after  them  in 
Paris,  or  when  abroad ;  a  professed  martyr  to  her  husband's 
impiety,  while  he  was  really  so  to  her  tongue.  She  monopo- 
lized to  herself  the  good  of  her  family,  and  charged  the  bad 
upon  her  ungodly  husband.  This  woman  attended  the  minis- 
try of  Mr.  Topliff,  who  was  also  Miss  Harcourt's  pastor,  and 
it  was  thus  their  acquaintance  began.  Mrs.  Dunstable's 
ambition  to  be  found  in  distinguished  families,  like  that  to 
which  Sarah  belonged,  was  inflamed  by  the  consciousness  of 
her  own  vulgar  pedigree. 

' '  I  fear,  Miss  Harcourt,  you  keep  yourself  too  much  ex- 
cluded," said  Mrs.  Dunstable,  at  her  first  call. 

"  I  am  happy  in  seclusion,"  replied  Sarah. 

"  0,  dear !  "  said  Mrs.  Dunstable,  with  a  peculiar  wriggle 
of  her  commanding  person.  "  I  s'pose  I  should  be,  if  I 
had  n't  a  husband  who  is  always  dragging  me  out." 

"  It  is  right  that  you  should  do  all  you  can,  conscientiously, 
to  please  your  husband." 

"It's  a  bore,  after  all,  to  have  an  ungodly  husband,  who 
is  always  interfering  with  one's  religion.  One  finds  it  hard 
to  be  good  under  such  circumstances ;  at  least  /do,"  said  Mrs. 
Dunstable,  with  a  smirk  of  her  large  face. 

"  Is  he  unwilling  you  should  attend  your  church?  " 

"Yes,  my  church,  for  he  has  taken  me  to  that  detestable 
place  where  this  fool  of  a  Topliff  preaches,  merely  because  he 
knows  it  plagues  me.  My  minister  is  that  dear,  good  man, 
Dr.  Turnsol.  Have  you  never  heard  him,  Miss  Harcourt? " 


260  MAPLETON;    OB, 

"  I  have  not  had  that  pleasure.  I  am  quite  satisfied  -with 
our  own  minister." 

"  You  surprise  me,  Miss  Harcourt.  How  can  you  endure 
his  dinging  against  wine  ?  Not  that  I  drink ;  but,  when  I  hear 
temperance  touched  upon,  I  like  to  have  it  kindy  softly,  as 
my  dear  Dr.  Turnsol  does.  He  now  and  then  takes  a  glass 
for  his  stomach's  sake,  and  his  often  infirmities.  But  this 
buckram  Topliff !  you  might  as  well  turn  melted  brimstone 
down  his  throat.  I  can't  bear  him.  My  husband  don't  like 
him  any  better  than  I ;  but  he  will  go  there,  just  to  be  ugly. 
0,  dear  !  what  a  sad  thing  it  is  for  a  pious  woman  to  have  an 
ungodly  husband  ! " 

"  A  trial,  no  doubt ;  but  a  consistent  life  may  win  him." 

"  La  me  !  how  can  one  lead  a  consistent  life,  when  one  has 
no  help  at  home  ?  I  feel  the  need  of  being  comforted  by 
preaching  the  more  from  my  unhappy  condition  at  home. 
But,  then,  to  go  and  be  knocked  over  the  head  about  wine  by 
Topliff  is  too  bad.  I  do  run  away,  to  get  a  little  comfort  from 
dear  Dr.  Turnsol,  and  I  will;  it's  of  no  use ;  I  can  't  live 
without  it." 

"I  observe  your  attendance  is  not  regular,  but  did  not 
know  before  the  cause." 

"Wai;  if  I  hadn't  run  away,  to  get  some  comfort  from  Dr. 
Turnsol,  I  believe  Mr.  Topliff  and  my  ungodly  husband 
together  would  have  driv  all  the  religion  out  of  me." 

"It  is  well  to  have  some  relief,"  said  Sarah,  thoughtfully, 
wondering  what  sort  of  a  woman  this  Mrs.  Dunstable  could 
be. 

"  You  must  come  and  pass  an  evening  with  me,  Miss  liar- 
court;  and  you  may  do  me  some  good,  in  all  my  trouble." 

Sarah  was  in  doubt  about  returning  the  call  of  a  woman 
whose  conversation  seemed  so  very  objectionable  ;  but,  hoping 


MORE    WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE  LAW.  261 

better  than  appeared,  she  did  at  length  go  to  pass  an  evening 
at  her  house.  When  she  arrived,  she  was,  bj  a  mistake  of  the 
servant,  ushered  into  the  same  room  with  Mr.  Dunstable,  whom, 
to  her  surprise,  she  found  with  Bible  in  hand,  and  reading 
with  much  interest.  He  received  her  with  great  cordiality, 
when  Sarah  apologized  for  the  interruption. 

"  Not  at  all ;  not  at  all,  Miss  Harcourt ;  happy  to  see  you, 
—  I  have  often  seen  you  at  church." 

"  Your  countenance,  sir,  is  familiar  to  me,"  said  Sarah, 
"though  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  speaking  to  you 
before."  * 

"  I  was  delighted  with  our  minister's  allusion,  last  Sabbath, 
to  St.  Paul's  advice  to  Timothy  to  drink  wine.  You  know  that 
is  used  by  wine-drinkers  in  justification  of  their  practice  ;  and 
Mr.  Topliff,  you  remember,  used  it  to  prove  that  wine  ought 
not  to  be  used,  except  as  a  medicine.  He  said  that  Timothy 
could  not  have  used  it  as  a  beverage,  or  Paul  would  not  have 
recommended  it  for  his  infirmities.  In  that  case  it  would  have 
been  unnecessary ;  and  that  it  was  a  remarkable  evidence  of 
abstinence  from  wine  among  the  early  Christian  pastors,  that 
the  authority  of  an  apostle  was  necessary  to  induce  one  of 
them  to  use  it  as  a  medicine." 

"  I  remember  well  that  passage  in  his  sermon,  and  I  thought 
it  conclusive,  too,"  replied  Sarah.  "  Timothy's  religion  obvi- 
ously deterred  him  from  the  use  of  wine  as  a  beverage.  Nor 
does  the  apostle  correct  him  in  this,  but  only  advises  it  as  a 
medicine." 

"  You  are  right,  Miss  Harcourt.  I  have  been  examining 
into  the  subject,  and  fully  believe  that  the  apostles  founded 
their  churches  on  the  principle  of  abstinence  from  wine  as  a 
beverage.  Timothy's  abstinence  must  have  resulted  from 
the  instruction  he  had  received,  as  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that 


262  MAPLETON;    OR, 

the  apostle  felt  it  to  be  necessary  so  far  to  modify  that  instruc- 
tion as  to  allow  wine  for  medicinal  purposes." 

By  this  time  a  colored  servant  came  into  the  room  and  said, 
"  Missus  will  please  walk  into  de  libraire." 

Accordingly,  Sarah,  taking  leave  of  Mr.  Duns  table,  fol- 
lowed the  servant  into  the  library.  This  was  a  small  room 
adjoining  a  larger  one,  from  which  she  heard  many  voices,  as 
of  persons  over  their  cards  and  their  wine.  She  waited  some 
time,  but  no  Mrs.  Dunstable  appeared.  Soon,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Turnsol  were  ushered  in,  and,  by  mistake,  opened  the  larger 
room  door,  when  Mrs.  Dunstable  fairly  screamecl  out,  and, 
leaving  her  place  at  one  of  the  card-tables,  rushed  to  the  door, 
saying,  "  La  me,  Dr.  Turnsol !  is  it  you  ?  Just  step  into 
the  library,  please.  Dear  Miss  Harcourt,  how  are  you? 
Happy  to  see  you.  0,  dear !  what  a  dreadful  thing  it  is  to 
spend  one's  life  so  !  all  hurly-burly, —  worldly  people  amus- 
ing themselves  at  whist,  which  my  conscience  cannot  approve. 
How  can  a  pious  woman  help  herself,  when  her  husband  is 
ungodly,  and  teaches  her  children  so,  and  makes  his  house  a 
hell  upon  earth  ?  My  sons  will  have  cards,  and  there  is  no 
use  of  my  saying  a  word.  0,  dear !  0,  dear  !  I  'm  in  the  fur- 
nace !  in  the  furnace,  Dr.  Turnsol !  "  Thus  ran  the  voluble 
tongue  of  the  excited  Mrs.  Dunstable,  her  large  cheeks  flushed 
with  wine. 

"  Yes,  I  know,"  said  Dr.  Turnsol,  pressing  Mrs.  Dunstable 
with  one  hand,  and  laying  the  other  on  his  heart  with  a  deep 
sigh  and  a  most  affectionate  wink  of  the  eye.  "  I  feel  for 
you,  my  dear  friend.  Your  situation  is  very,  very  trying." 

Pop  went  a  champagne  bottle  in  another  room,  which  made 
Mrs.  Dunstable  dodge  as  if  she  had  been  shot  at,  exclaiming, 
"Good  heavens!  what's  that?  0,  dear !  Miss  Harcourt, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  263 

what  a  dreadful  thing  it  is  to  have  a  worldly  husband,  to  fill 
one's  house  with  such  gay  company  !  " 

"  Indeed,"  said  Sarah,  hardly  knowing  what  to  reply, 
"  your  husband  does  not  seem  to  join  his  company.  I  found 
him  reading  his  Bible." 

"  Did  you  see  Dunstable?"  said  she,  with  another  start. 
{:  Reading  his  Bible?  lame!  an't  that  a  joke?  Dunstable 
reading  his  Bible  !  ha  !  ha !  ha  !  0,  fie  !  Miss  Harcourt ;  it 's 
all  a  sham ;  it 's  to  get  clubs  to  throw  at  me,  the  most  per- 
secuted wife  in  town.  The  more  he  reads,  the  deeper  he 
sinks  in  the  mire." 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Turnsol,  with  a  sigh ;  "the  deeper  he 
sinks  in  the  mire.  How  wicked  it  is  of  him  to  keep  you  from 
hearing  my  husband  !  " 

"  It 's  a  burning  shame  of  him,  when  he  knows  that  with- 
out your  husband's  sermons  my  religion  goes  out  like  fire 
without  fuel.  Dr.  Turnsol,  don't  you  feel  that  goneness  in 
your  stomach?" 

"  But  a  trifle,  dear  Mrs.  Dunstable,"  said  the  doctor,  with 
a  sorrowful  expression  of  the  face. 

"  I  see,  I  see,  doctor ;  Cuff,  there !  "  added  Mrs.  Dun- 
stable,  calling  to  a  servant  just  then  passing  the  open  door ; 
"  bring  a  glass  of  Madeira.  Dr.  Turnsol,  it  '11  do  you  good ; 
I  know  it  will." 

"  Thank  you,  Mrs.  Dunstable ;  it  does  sometimes  relieve 
my  goneness,"  said  the  doctor,  quaffing  a  glass  of  old  Madeira 
with  a  gusto. 

By  this  time  the  black  servant  announced  that  the  children 
were  ready  for  the  dancing-school  exhibition. 

"  Hush,  you  fool!  "  said  Mrs.  Dunstable;  "what  do  you 
come  to  tell  me  that  for  ?  0,  dear  !  my  friends,  what  a  dread- 


264  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

ful  thing  it  is  to  have  an  ungodly  husband !  One's  children 
must  be  brought  up  just  as  one  does  not  choose." 

"  We  understand.  Your  husband  forces  you  to  send  your 
children  to  the  dancing-school,"  said  the  doctor. 

"Yes,  my  dear  doctor,  that's  my  trouble.  Those  dear 
little  immortals  are  sent  to  dance  themselves  to  ruin.  0, 
dear !  0,  dear !  " 

The  children  are  no  sooner  off  than  the  servant  calls  out 
again,  "  Missus'  carge  is  at  de  door,  to  tak  Missus  to  de 
op'ration." 

"  What  operation  are  you  going  to  see?"  inquired  Mrs. 
Turnsol. 

"The  fool!"  replied  Mrs.  Dunstable,  greatly  embar- 
rassed; "he  means  the  opera.  0,  dear!  that 's  the  misery 
of  having  a  worldly  husband.  One 's  compelled  to  go  here 
and  go  there,  right  in  the  face  and  eyes  of  one's  conscience." 

Out  rushed  the  card-party,  all  dressed,  and  ready  to  accom- 
pany Mrs.  Dunstable  to  the  opera. 

"You  see  how  it  is  here  at  our  house,  Miss  Harcourt, —  a 
perfect  bedlam !  I  did  hope  to  enjoy  with  you  a  quiet,  pleas- 
ant evening,  in  talking  about  good  things ;  but  one's  hus- 
band, you  know,  will  control." 

Sarah,  grieved  and  disgusted,  could  not  refrain  from  say- 
ing, "Your  husband  is  certainly  a  temperance  man,  and  you 
ought  to  be  thankful  for  that." 

"La  me  !  that 's  his  old-fashioned  way  of  talking.  lie 's 
no  taste  for  anything  but  to  be  ugly,  and  plague  me." 

This  may  be  an  extreme  case ;  but  it  was  an  introduction 
to  others  in  sufficient  number  to  convince  Miss  Harcourt  that 
the  drinking  habit,  in  professedly  Christian  families,  is  one 
of  the  greatest  obstructions  to  the  cause  of  reform.  This 
remark  applies  with  special  force  to  the  clergy  and  church- 


MORE   AVORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  265 

members  in  England,  whose  use  of  intoxicating  drinks*  in 
various  forms,  is  almost  as  general  as  that  of  tea  and  coffee. 
There,  temperance  meetings  are  made  up,  for  the  most  part, 
of  the  lower  orders  of  society.  There,  the  clergy  do  not 
give  the  cause  their  hearty  support.  They  drink  themselves, 
and  hold  the  cup  to  their  neighbor's  lips.  Intoxicating  drink 
is  common  at  ecclesiastical  gatherings  and  entertainments. 
Consequently,  there  the  temperance  reform  is  far  behind 
what  it  is  with  us.  Sarah  found  in  Mrs.  Dunstable,  Dr. 
Turnsol,  and  even  in  her  own  father,  far  more  difficult  sub- 
jects to  deal  with  than  in  the  Andrewses  and  Prindles,  because 
the  vice  of  the  latter  was  acknowledged,  while  that  of  the 
former  was  sustained  by  a  delusive  feeling  of  virtue. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE   DYING   CONFESSION. 

"  'Tis  a  burden 
Too  heavy  for  a  man  that  hopes  for  heaven." 

SHAKSPEARE. 

SPRING  began  again  to  breathe  its  influence  over  Forest- 
dale.  The  escaping  frost  made  the  trees  explode  like  the 
pistols  of  charging  dragoons.  The  leaping  brooks  bore  off, 
rejoicing,  the  liquefied  crystal  drops  and  fleecy  robes  of  win- 
ter. The  robin  and  blue-bird  resumed  their  sweet  song,  and 
the  hawk  and  eagle  their  gyrations  in  the  upper  air.  The 
flowing  sap  of  the  maple  yielded  nectar,  and  replenished  the 
farm-house  larder  with  its  delicious  crystallizations.  Little 
girls  were  out  among  the  budding  trees  gathering  wild-flowers, 
23 


266  MAPLETON;    OR, 

and  the  Queen  of  May  was  wielding  over  her  joyous  train  her 
blooming  sceptre.  Groups  of  stilted  boys  were  taking  uneasy 
steps  with  their  elongated  legs,  while  others  were  hurling  and 
striking  the  bounding  ball,  and  pitching  the  leaping  quoit. 
The  plough,  spade  and  hoe,  resumed  their  work  of  preparing 
for  seeding,  while  the  lambs  leaped  in  the  pasture,  the  calves 
frisked  beside  their  dams,  the  foal  whinnied  after  its  absent 
mother,  and  the  genius  of  herb  and  forest  bounded  forth  from 
her  wintry  hiding-place,  clad  in  her  leafy  robes,  all  spotted 
with  pearl,  vermilion,  and  gold.  The  whole  scene  was  as 
buoyant  and  beautiful  as  if  no  battles  had  been  fought,  no 
intrigues  practised,  no  agony  of  abused  appetite  had  been 
inflicted  or  endured,  and  no  competitions  for  social  preemi- 
nence had  disturbed  the  fair  face  of  the  world. 

Would  that  nature's  lessons  were  not  lost  upon  man ! 
Would  that  the  forests  and  leaves  of  his  beautiful  country- 
seat  had  charmed  Skampton  into  tilling  the  soil,  or  into  a 
business  consistent  with  public  virtue,  or  into  almost  any- 
thing, rather  than  this  endless  competition  for  general  influ- 
ence, and  this  coercion  of  the  future  into  the  exact  limit  of 
the  past !  Would  that  Gilfort  could  imbibe  truth  from  the 
inspirations  of  nature ;  and  Douglass,  senior,  learn  temper- 
ance from  the  rills  that  water  his  lands  ;  and  that  Bludgeon 
would  temper  his  zeal  with  love  !  Nature  is  a  great  reposi- 
tory of  virtue  and  wisdom  to  those  who  are  willing  to  use  it 
as  such. 

Society  had  evidently  improved  under  the  labors  of  young 
Douglass.  Private  quarrels  were  settled,  instruction  im- 
parted to  those  who  had  not  enjoyed  it  before,  books  and 
reading  were  far  more  common  am'ong  the  people,  and  the 
advantages  even  of  an  humble,  informal  Christian  pastor- 
ship were  visible  on  every  hand.  Charles  was  active  and 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  267 

laborious,  in  spite  of  the  inward  sorrow  which  preyed  upon 
him  from  day  to  day.  The  evil  of  having  a  drunken  father 
seemed  to  him  great  enough  without  being  hurled,  on  its 
account,  from  the  position  in  society  to  which  he  felt  himself 
entitled.  He  made  frequent  calls  on  his  people,  to  afford  aid 
and  advice  to  those  who  needed. 

How  touching  are  the  scenes  which  fall  under  the  eye  of  a 
pastor  !  How  much  does  he  meet  with,  in  the  most  retired 
communities  as  well  as  in  city  parishes,  to  teach  him  the  need 
of  the  temperance  reformation  !  It  is  owing  to  the  constant 
contact  of  ministers  with  the  evils  of  alcohol^  as  well  as  to 
the  dictates  of  their  religion,  that  a  portion  of  them  were  the 
first  to  move  in  this  reformation,  and  that  they  have  been, 
throughout,  its  most  active  and  zealous  coadjutors.  While 
Miss  Harcourt  was  encountering  this  vice  in  New  York,  and 
Bludgeon  in  his  field  of  labor,  Douglass,  in  his  lowly  parish, 
was  witnessing  some  of  its  most  dismal  effects. 

One  of  his  families  was  burnt  out  by  means  of  a  fire 
kindled  by  a  drunken  father,  and  three  dear  little  children 
perished  in  the  flames.  They  were  a  poor  family,  and  lived 
in  a  little  log  cottage  too  remote  for  help,  when  the  devouring 
element  lighted  on  them.  The  mother,  the  previous  evening, 
went  up  stairs,  and  put  her  three  little  ones  all  in  the  same 
bed,  while  a  fourth  was  still  at  the  breast.  She  snugly 
tucked  them  up,  heard  them  lisp  their  evening  prayer  for 
dear  father  and  mother  and  baby,  and  then;  with  the  fond 
maternal  kiss,  bade  them  good-night.  At  midnight  her  hus- 
band returned ;  and,  lighting  a  candle,  started  to  climb  the  lad- 
der to  the  room  above,  where  the  children  were, —  stairs  they 
had  none, — when  his  clumsy,  noisy  movements  awoke  his  wife. 
"  Henry,  be  careful  of  that  light,  or  you  '11  touch  something 


268  MAPLETON;    OR, 

above,  and  set  us  all  in  a  flame,"  she  said,  fearing  what  his 
condition  might  be. 

"Mam,  mind  your  own  business! "  said  he,  with  the  thick, 
defective  articulation  of  a  drunkard. 

"0,  well,  dear  Henry,  you  must  pardon  my  anxiety 
about  our  dear  little  ones;  they  are  in  a  room  with  so 
many  combustible  materials,"  said  Mrs.  Niles,  for  such  was 
the  name  of  the  family,  while  a  tear,  hid  in  the  darkness,  stole 
down  her  stricken  cheeks  at  the  now  discovered  fact  that  her 
husband  had  come  home  drunk.  Niles  retained  sense  enough 
to  desire  to  conceal  a  bottle  of  whiskey  which  he  had  brought 
home  with  him,  and  he  went  up  the  ladder  for  that  purpose. 
He  soon  staggered  his  way  down,  blew  out  his  light,  and 
threw  himself  on  the  bed,  in  his  clothes,  and  soon  sunk  into 
a  profound  sleep.  Mrs.  Niles  also  dozed, —  how  long  she 
could  not  tell, —  when  she  was  awaked  by  the  crackling  flames 
of  the  burning  house  above.  She  screamed,  sprang  out  of 
bed,  and,  by  a  superhuman  effort,  mounted  the  ladder,  and 
brought  down  the  little  bed  in  which  her  children  slept,  with 
them  all  enfolded  in  it ;  nor  did  she  stay  till  she  reached  the 
open  air.  But,  alas  !  it  was  too  late.  They  had  been  liter- 
ally suffocated  and  roasted  alive.  The  fire  had  flamed  up  into 
the  roof,  which,  in  a  room  of  that  kind,  was  the  same  as  the 
ceiling,  and  had  produced  an  intense  heat  around  the  chil- 
dren, without  yet  kindling  on  their  bed.  When  Douglass 
reached  the  spot,  the  next  morning,  the  children  still  lay  in 
the  bed,  just  as  their  mother  had  brought  them  down,  all 
clasped  in  each  other's  arms,  just  as  they  went  to  sleep,  while 
their  charred  fingers  projected  out  like  burnt  sticks,  in  the 
same  form  as  when  the  fire  converted  them  into  senseless 
clay. 

"0,  my  dear  babes !  —  my  sweet,  precious  babes  !  "  was 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       269 

the  only  reply  of  the  frantic  mother,  to  words  of  consolation 
from  her  young  pastor.  "0,  do  look  once  more  on  the  face 
of  your  mother,  my  dear  darlings ! "  prostrating  herself  on  the 
charred  remains  of  objects  so  tenderly  loved. 

"My  dear  madam,"  said  Douglass,  with  tears,  "God 
knew  how  much  better  he  can  take  care  of  your  children  than 
you  could,  and,  in  love,  he  has  taken  them  to  himself." 

"0,  my  dear,  dear,  precious  ones,  let  your  mother  kiss 
you  once  more!  0,  cold,  cold  !  "  and  then,  with  wailings  to 
break  one's  heart  who  heard,  she  lifted  herself  up,  as  if 
unconscious  of  all  that  was  said  or  done  around  her. 

Her  husband  stood  like  a  statue,  partly  besotted  with 
strong  drink,  and  partly  confounded  and  stupefied  by  the 
greatness  of  the  calamity  in  which  his  miserable  habits  had 
involved  his  family.  The  event  produced  a  powerful  sensa- 
tion in  town,  and  Douglass  used  it  to  show  the  people  how 
utterly  insecure  property  and  life  are,  with  a  large  portion  of 
every  community,  under  our  present  license  laws.  "We 
have  legislated  on  this  subject,"  he  said,  "from  the  first  years 
of  our  colonial  history,  as  if  intoxicating  drinks  were  an 
enemy  to  society  that  must  be  guarded  against,  and  yet  no 
effectual  restraints  have  ever  been  devised.  The  enemy  is 
now  more  rampant  than  ever,  so  far  as  the  traffic  is  con- 
cerned, and  will  continue  to  be,  till  a  cordon  of  law  is  thrown 
around  to  make  the  sale  as  a  beverage  impossible.  We  must 
adopt  the  summary  method  of  pouring  into  the  gutter  liquors 
kept  for  such  a  purpose.  No  quarter  must  be  shown  to  the 
enemy.  He  must  be  dragged  to  the  light  from  all  his  hiding- 
places,  and  doomed  to  instant  annihilation.  Humanity  de- 
mands this.  Civil  society  owes  it  as  a  debt  to  those  whom  it 
seeks  to  protect.  More  than  half  its  burdens  of  crime  and 
pauperage  come  from  the  present  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating 
23* 


270  MAPLETON;  OK, 

drinks ;  and  it  has  a  right  to  relieve  itself  of  the  burden  by 
stringent  laws.  Is  it  not  as  just  and  constitutional  to  remove 
temptation  from  the  drunkard  as  to  remove  him  from  tempta- 
tion by  imprisonment  ?  In  the  one  case  you  prevent  the 
crime,  in  the  other  you  punish  it.  In  the  one  case  you 
leave  a  father  and  husband  to  his  daily  routine  of  virtuous 
labor,  to  support  a  dependent  family ;  but  in  the  other  you 
first  torture  and  degrade  them  by  crime,  and  then  you  deprive 
them  of  support,  and  compel  them  to  starve  or  beg,  or  go  to 
the  poorhouse." 

This  speech  had  a  powerful  effect  in  Forestdale,  and  almost 
every  man  in  it  signed  a  petition  to  the  Legislature  for  the 
passage  of  the  Maine  Law. 

On  another  occasion,  Douglass  was  called  to  the  death-bed 
of  a  young  man  whose  intemperate  habits  and  consequent 
exposure  had  brought  on  a  quick  consumption.  He  seemed 
anxious,  as  if  he  had  something  on  his  mind  to  disclose  before 
dying,  but  which  he  felt  constrained  to  keep  secreted.  Doug- 
lass visited  him  daily,  but  still  could  elicit  nothing  satisfactory. 
He  was  making  a  plunge  in  the  dark.  At  length,  all  seemed 
over  with  him ;  his  eyes  were  closed,  and  pieces  of  money 
laid  to  keep  them  so,  and  his  limbs  duly  disposed  for  burial. 
He  revived,  however,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  and,  seeing 
Douglass  by  his  side,  he  said,  feebly, 

"  It  is  of  no  use ;  I  must  confess,  or  I  cannot  die  in  peace. 
Sir,  I  have  been  instigated  to  do  you  a  great  injury." 

"  What  injury  have  you  done  me?"  said  Douglass,  much 
surprised. 

"I  have  taken  a  great  number  of  letters  from  the  post- 
office  which  were  directed  to  you,  and  have  burnt  them." 

"  Burnt  my  letters?  What  could  have  induced  you  to  do 
this?" 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  271 

"You  must  ask  me  no  questions  on  that  point.  The  one 
who  instigated  the  crime  must  do  his  own  confessing.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  confess  the  agency  I  have  had  in  it." 

11  What  motive  had  he  for  destroying  my  letters?" 

"I  do  not  fully  understand  that  myself,  though  one  thing 
I  know,  the  letters  were  superscribed  by  a  female  hand ;  and 
I  think  some  young  lady  is  some  way  concerned  in  the  case." 

"Where  were  the  letters  post-marked?"  inquired  Doug- 
lass, to  whom  the  idea  now  occurred  that  it  involved  an 
explanation  of  Miss  Harcourt's  strange  disappearance,  and 
still  stranger  silence. 

"At  New  York,  except  one,  which  had  the  post-mark  of 
Troy." 

"Have  you  retained  none  of  them?" 

"  None,  except  this  name  subscribed  to  one  of  them,  which 
I  retained  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  thinking  I  might  learn 
more  about  the  person." 

Douglass  took  a  small  piece  of  paper  from  the  hand  of  the 
dying  man,  on  which  was  written,  in  her  own  hand,  the  name 
of  "  Sarah  Harcourt."  After  this  confession,  the  young  man 
sunk  away,  and  soon  died.  Douglass  stayed  to  attend  his 
funeral,  and  also  to  inquire  of  the  postmaster  how  his  letters 
should  have  been  disposed  of  in  this  manner.  He  could  get 
no  explanation,  but  made  up  his  mind  that  a  member  of  the 
family  had  delivered  them,  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
postmaster.  He  now  flew  to  New  York  on  the  wings  of 
steam,  to  unravel  the  entangled  mystery.  When  he  arrived, 
he  was  totally  at  a  loss  where  to  look  for  the  fugitive  family, 
as  Harcourt  had  cut  off  all  the  clues  to  his  concealment,  so 
far  as  possible.  He  took  lodgings  at  one  of  the  principal 
hotels,  and  now  devoted  himself  to  the  one  object  of  finding 


272  MAPLETOX;    Oil, 

his  lost  one.  Amid  the  thronged  streets  he  felt  a  keener 
sense  of  loneliness  than  he  had  done  in  his  wilderness  home. 

It  occurred  to  him,  at  length,  whether  Sarah  might  not 
have  made  the  acquaintance  of  some  of  the  clergy ;  and  he 
called  on  several,  but  could  hear  nothing.  One  of  them  had 
an  indistinct  impression  that  he  had  heard  the  name  from 
some  one, —  he  could  not  tell  who,  but  believed  it  was  Dr. 
Turnsol.  Douglass,  therefore,  called  on  the  doctor,  and 
inquired  if  he  had  met  with  Miss  Harcourt  in  his  visits. 

"Miss  Harcourt  —  Miss  Harcourt—  '  said  the  doctor, 
thoughtfully.  "My  dear,"  he  added,  to  his  chubby,  red- 
faced  wife,  who  that  moment  peeped  in  upon  them,  "  was 
Harcourt  the  name  of  the  young  lady  whom  we  met  at  Mrs. 
Dunstable's?" 

"Yes;  Harcourt  was  the  name, —  Sarah  Harcourt, —  a 
genteel  miss,  one  of  our  aristocracy,"  said  Mrs.  Turnsol,  and 
then  moved  off,  with  an  air  which  seemed  to  say,  "I'll  not 
talk  with  you  till  I  know  who  you  are." 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  I  shall  find  her?"  inquired 
Charles. 

"I  cannot,  indeed.  You'll  learn  at  Mrs.  Dunstable's, 
128  -  -street.  You'll  excuse  me,  sir;  am  very  much 
engaged;  good-morning,"  said  the  doctor,  and  vanished. 

Charles  now  hastened  to  128 street,  where  he  was 

met  at  the  door  by  a  colored  servant,  of  whom  he  inquired 
for  Mrs.  Dunstable. 

"  Will  gemman  please  walk  in,  till  I  sees?  "  said  the  serv- 
ant, when  her  ladyship,  hearing  the  inquiry,  rushed  to  the 
door,  to  prevent  the  interruption  of  a  call,  abruptly  asking, 

"  What  do  you  want,  sir?  " 

Charles  stated  the  object  of  his  call. 

"I  know  the  daughter.     Follow  up  the  Eighth  Avenue  a 


MORE   WORK  FOR,  THE   MAINE  LAW.  273 

long  way,  till  you  come  to  the  Cock  and  Bull  Tavern; 
there  inquire,  and  you  will  learn  particulars.  Good-morning, 
sir." 

Charles  could  not  repress  a  smile  at  the  hauteur  with 
which  this  was  said,  by  one  who  bore  so  many  marks  of  a 
vulgar  origin  and  character.  He  set  off  at  once  for  the  Cock 
and  Bull, —  a  definite  point  to  reach  an  indefinite  one.  A 
long  way  off  it  was,  indeed, —  far  beyond  the  expanded  bound 
of  the  great  metropolis;  and,  when  he  reached  it,  he  was 
directed  onward  still,  to  a  certain  lane  lined  with  trees,  adown 
which  he  was  to  go  till  he  came  opposite  a  gate,  a  lawn,  and 
grounds  covered  by  ornamental  shrubbery.  He  finally  reached 
the  gate,  and,  finding  it  locked,  and  no  porter  near,  sauntered 
down  to  where  the  lane  terminated,  on  the  bank  of  the  North 
river.  Here  he  stood,  enjoying  the  watery  view,  and  think- 
ing, with  palpitating  heart,  that  the  object  of  his  search  was 
so  near,  when,  turning  to  look  up  stream,  he  saw  Sarah  on 
the  beach,  coming  towards  him.  Both  were  alike  taken  by 
surprise,  and  felt  themselves  hardly  able  to  endure  the  rush 
of  emotions,  though  both  succeeded  in  maintaining  outward 
repose  of  manners. 

"  My  dear  Sarah,  it  is  enough !  I  have  seen  you  once 
more  !  This  moment  of  bliss  compensates  all  my  sufferings." 

"0,  Charles  !  how  could  you  neglect  me  so  long?  Why 
did  you  not  answer  my  letters'?" 

"  Your  letters  !  not  one  ever  reached  me.  Till  this  day  I 
have  been  in  suspense  as  to  where  you  were,  or  whether  the 
sight  of  me  would  be  agreeable." 

"Is  it  possible?"  said  Sarah,  with  blank  astonishment. 
"  I  wrote  you  at  Terracegreen,  explaining  the  cause  of  our 
leaving  so  suddenly ;  I  wrote  you  on  the  way ;  and  I  have 
written  you  from  this  place ;  till  I  found  writing  did  no  good." 


274  MAPLETON;    OR, 

"  And  yet,  not  one  of  your  letters  reached  me;  nor,  singu- 
lar as  it  may  appear,  could  I  learn  -where  you  had  gone." 

"How  could  this  be?" 

"  The  reason  is  plain ;  your  letters  have  been  intercepted," 
said  Charles,  detailing  the  facts  of  the  death-bed  confession. 

"It  is  my  mother's  God  has  brought  this  about!  He 
watches  over  us  still.  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  our  Rock  and 
our  Deliverer! " 

"  It  is  even  so,  Sarah ;  had  not  the  Lord  been  on  our  side, 
then  had  our  enemies  quickly  swallowed  us  up." 

"  Gilfort  has  a  hand  in  this.  I  mistrusted  it  long  ago. 
And  this  letter  has  just  fallen  ^pto  my  hands,  to  confirm  my 
suspicions,"  added  Sarah,  taking  a  letter  from  her  pocket, 
and  reading  as  follows  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  My  acquaintance  in  your  family  I  deem 
the  happiest  event  of  my  life.  I  desire  to  express  the  inter- 
est I  feel  in  your  happiness  in  deed  as  well  as  in  word.  It 
is  this  which  induces  me  to  impart  to  you  a  fact  which  you 
are  entitled  to  know.  A  young  man  who  is  unworthy  of 
your  confidence  has  made  love  to  your  daughter  at  a  second 
interview,  and  in  a  most  offensive  manner.  I  have  written  to 
the  Honorable  Michael  Skampton  on  the  subject,  who  will 
acquaint  you  with  the  character  of  this  fellow,  and  of  his 
family.  His  father  is  a  drunkard.  If,  in  my  zeal  to  serve 
you,  and  to  do  as  I  would  be  done  by,  I  seem,  in  any  respect, 
to  overstep  the  bounds  of  propriety,  please  impute  it  to  a 
defect  of  judgment,  and  not  of  intention. 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"SAMUEL  GILFORT." 

" Did  this  letter  lead  to  your  flight?"  inquired  Charles, 
coolly. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       275 

"  No,  I  think  not.  I  cannot  suppose  my  papa  capable  of 
being  so  influenced  by  such  a  piece  of  impertinence,  from  such 
a  man." 

"  You  may  be  sure  that,  aided  by  something  you  have  not 
seen  from  Skampton,  whom  Gilfort  speaks  of  giving  my  char- 
acter to  your  father,  caused  it.  Skampton,  not  content  with 
ruining  my  father,  is  bent,  also,  upon  the  destruction  of  his 
son.  But  we  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  Sarah,  and  there  is 
all  my  hope." 

"  Yet  how  should  Gilfort  know  of  what  happened  in  Spring 
Arbor,  at  our  '  second  interview '  ?  That  is  the  mystery." 

"  Know  it !  Just  as  he  knew  how  to  intercept  my  letters ; 
just  as  he  knew  how  to  rob  poor  Dobson,  last  winter,  of 
which  I  have  lately  heard ;  just  as  he  knew  how  to  inveigle 
around  him  his  deluded  colonists  in  the  West,  under  the 
notion  of  building  them  up  into  a  new  kingdom  and  priest- 
hood. He  knows  and  does  everything  by  the  witchery  of  his 
influence  over  those  whom  he  takes  in  his  toils.  This  dying 
young  man  confessed  his  own  guilt,  but  would  not  reveal  the 
serpent  whose  charm  even  death  could  not  dissolve." 

"  Papa  always  speaks  of  this  letter  with  contempt." 

"  Does  he  not  object  to  your  acquaintance  with  me  7" 

"No,  never.  Yet  I  mistrust  there  is  something;  but 
«hat,  I  cannot  tell." 

"  Was  it  necessary  that  you  should  leave  the  plantation  so 
suddenly?" 

"  Papa  thought  so,  and  so  it  appeared,  when  we  reached 
town.  Yet,  I  am  in  a  maze  about  the  letter  I  left  for  you  at 
the  mansion." 

The  young  couple  now  moved  towards  the  house3  where 
tea  was  soon  announced.  But  no  Mr.  Harcourt  appeared ; 
and  Sarah  was  surprised  to  learn  from  Charles  that  the  front 


276  MAPLETON;  OR, 

gate  was  locked,  and  no  porter  on  hand.  Soon,  a  letter 
came  from  Harcourt,  stating  that  he  had  been  unexpectedly 
called  to  Baltimore,  and  should  not  return  for  some  days. 
He  was  a  peculiar  man  in  his  notion  of  influencing  women  in 
matters  of  love.  He  did  not  deem  it  possible  to  succeed  in 
it  by  open  measures.  As  to  Sarah,  especially,  he  knew  too 
well  her  firmness,  and  that  the  reasons  he  had  to  urge  against 
Douglass  would  not  have  weight  with  her.  "A  woman's 
heart,"  he  said,  "  was  like  the  paddy's  pig,  that  must  be  made 
to  believe  that  you  would  go  to  Cork,  if  you  would  drive  him 
to  Dublin.  She  always  works  by  contraries."  He  never 
spoke  to  Sarah  against  Charles,  never  intimated  an  unwilling- 
ness that  he  should  visit  her ;  but  seemed  rather  to  go  the 
other  way,  because  he  deemed  this  the  only  method  of  break- 
ing up  the  match. 

He  would  not  see  Douglass  in  his  last  visit  to  the  planta- 
tion, and  avoided  him  on  this  occasion,  because  he  wished  to 
escape  the  necessity  of  saying  yes  or  no  to  a  request  for  his 
consent.  He  had  learned  the  fact  of  his  arrival  in  town  by 
some  means,  which  accounted  for  the  gate  being  locked,  and 
his  own  escape  to  Baltimore.  And,  when  Charles  afterwards 
wrote  him  on  the  subject,  the  letters  always  miscarried ;  at 
all  events,  were  never  answered.  Still,  he  was  so  bland,  so 
favorable,  so  complimentary  to  Douglass,  so  anxious  to  see 
him,  so  much  interested  in  whatever  concerned  him,  and, 
altogether,  so  consenting  in  everything  but  deed,  that  both 
Sarah  and  Charles  felt  no  apprehension,  so  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned. And,  indeed,  apart  from  the  liquor  question,  and 
the  enormous  machinery  of  the  Skampton  influence,  all  things 
would  no  doubt  have  gone  on  smoothly. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       277 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE   SKAMPTON  MILL  GRINDING  INFLUENCE. 

"  Dr.  Mac,  Dr.  Mac,  you  should  stretch  on  a  rack, 
To  strike  evil  doers  with  terror  ; 
To  join  faith  and  sense,  upon  one  pretence, 
Is  heretic,  damnable  error." — BURNS. 

AGES  of  bliss  were  compressed  into  the  few  short  days  of 
Charles'  stay  at  Sarah's  new  home.  The  blooming  life  of 
early  summer  invited  them  out  amid  the  enchantments  of  cul- 
tivated woodland  scenery.  All  the  pledges  of  fealty  were 
renewed  between  them,  with  such  additions  as  the  unexpected, 
unknown  danger  seemed  to  require.  They  dismissed  their 
fears,  and  gave  themselves  to  recreation.  Now  they  threaded 
the  margin  of  the  river ;  now  sailed  on  its  bosom ;  now  angled 
in  its  waters ;  now  bounded  joyously  over  the  glade  and  wood- 
land ;  now  took  excursions  to  Hoboken,  Staten  Island,  Sandy 
Hook,  and  other  places  of  interest ;  now  visited  the  curiosities 
of  the  city,  and  thus  every  amusement  which  leaves  behind  no 
wound  to  health  or  conscience  they  enjoyed  with  a  zest  ren- 
dered the  more  intense  by  their  habitual  devotion  to  the  good 
and  the  useful.  To  her  eager  devotees  Pleasure  is  a  coy  di- 
vinity, but  to  those  who  live  for  their  duty  she  is  profuse  of 
her  favors. 

From  New  York  Charles  repaired  directly  to  Mapleton, 

to  consult  his  friends  as  to  his  future  course.     Study  in  some 

form  and  somewhere  was  now  his  destiny.     When  he  reached 

the  parental  roof,  the  family  remarked  in  him  greater  cheer- 

24 


278  MAPLETON;    OK, 

fulness  and  repose  of  mind  than  ever  before.  The  world 
went  right  with  him,  for  once.  Still,  his  joy  was  clouded  by 
the  appearance  of  his  father,  who  seemed  more  than  ever 
broken  down  in  spirits.  The  Skampton  groggery  had  been 
revived,  and  the  dismal  effects  of  its  presence  were  visible  on 
every  hand.  Drunkenness,  indolence,  riot  and  vice,  were 
again  the  order  of  the  day.  Mr.  Douglass  had  been  repeat- 
edly drawn  in  and  maddened  by  alcohol.  The  effect  was  to 
make  him  feel  that  he  was  now  a  confirmed  drunkard,  and 
would  never  be  anything  else.  0,  the  agony  of  this  feeling, 
in  the  sober  moments  of  such  a  man,  no  tongue  can  express  ! 
Shame  is  his  watchword.  It  meets  him  at  every  turn.  It 
mantles  and  burns  in  his  cheek.  It  falls  upon  his  ear  in  the 
hootings  of  young  children.  How  can  he  face  that  society 
before  which  he  has  so  often  acted  the  beast  ?  Mr.  Douglass 
had  ceased  to  be  himself.  He  was  a  doomed  man.  He  had 
fallen,  not  an  honored,  but  a  disgraced  and  abhorred  victim 
of  state  legislation. 

"  Father,"  said  Charles,  "what  do  you  advise,  in  reference 
to  my  future  course  ?  " 

"Really  Charles,  I  have  no  mind  about  it.  My  opinion 
is  good  for  nothing,  any  way.'.' 

"  Sorry  you  feel  so,  father.  You  know  how  much  I  have 
always  relied  upon  your  judgment." 

"  Things  change  in  this  world,  my  son,"  he  replied,  with  a 
quivering  lip  and  a  falling  tear,  feeling  in  the  depth  of  his  soul 
that  he  was  unfit  for  the  society  of  such  a  son.  He  could  no 
longer  control  himself,  and  left  the  room.  How  much  is 
there  to  make  one's  heart  bleed  for  the  drunkard  !  He  has 
lost  the  control  of  himself.  Alcohol  has  robbed  him  of  man- 
hood and  made  him  a  brute,  and  yet  the  feelings  of  manhood 
will  occasionally  return  to  taunt  him  with  his  degradation. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       279 

"  You  see,  Charles,  how  much  your  poor  father  suffers," 
said  Mrs.  Douglass.  "  I  never  felt  so  tender  of  him  as  I  do 
now." 

"  I  fully  reciprocate  your  feelings,  mother.  The  success 
of  Skampton's  suit  against  the  town,  and  the  reopening  of 
his  groggery,  have  done  all  this.  Legislative  wisdom  is  legis- 
lative madness;  legal  justice,  legal  wrong,  to  fill  the  country 
with  just  such  families  as  ours.  0,  mother!  the  pangs  I 
have  endured,  God  only  knows.  And  this  same  Skampton 
is  now  pursuing  me  like  a  bloodhound,  and  I  am  not  yet 
secure  against  his  assaults.  What  influence  he  may  have 
upon  Harcourt,  remains  to  be  seen." 

"I  see  it  all,  Charles ;  I  see  it  all.  As  to  your  future 
course,  your  father  seems  so  unwilling  to  advise,  and  I  have 
so  little  confidence  in  my  own  judgment  in  the  case,  that  I 
think  we  had  better  consult  our  good  Mr.  Littlefield,  and  also 
Doctor  Holliston.  They  are  men  to  be  depended  upon." 

"  Very  well,  mother  ;  •  suppose  you  invite  them  to  tea." 

"  I  will,  this  very  week.  I  am  the  more  unwilling  to 
advise  you,  because  I  am  afraid  I  am  prejudiced  on  the 
subject.  Such  men  as  Skampton  have  so  much  to  do  in  con- 
trolling our  colleges  and  theological  seminaries,  that  I  am 
quite  out  of  conceit  of  them.  They  seem  to  me  a  forest  of 
petrifactions  to  which  we  send  our  sons  to  gather  fruit ;  and 
when  gathered  they  are  apples  of  Sodom,  outside  fair  and 
inside  ashes.  I  may  be  wrong.  You  must  not  trust  me  too 
far." 

"  Mother,  you  cannot  expect  me  to  teach  without  learning." 

"True,  you  must  learn;  but  where  can  you  learn  most 
effectually  ?  Here,  at  home,  by  self-education,  under  a  private 
tutor  somewhere  else,  or  in  a  theological  seminary  ?  That  is 
the  question." 


280  MAPLETOX;    OP., 

The  proposed  tea-party  came  off,  and  the  subject  was 
brought  up  again  for  discussion. 

"  I  have  been  denied  the  advantages  of  a  public  education," 
said  Mr.  Littlefield,  "  which  makes  me  value  it  the  more.  I 
have  boggled  through  life,  for  the  want  of  it.  If  I  had  to 
begin  again,  and  knew  that  I  should  be  situated  as  I  am  in 
this  community,  no  consideration  would  deter  me  from  going 
through  both  a  college  and  theological  seminary.  I  would 
have  an  education,  if  I  had  to  dig  for  it.  One  feels  so  much 
the  need  of  knowledge  and  mental  discipline,  when  he  comes 
to  stand  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  before  the  same  audience, 
to  speak  on  the  most  important  of  all  themes,  that  I  am 
surprised  that  every  minister  of  the  land,  especially  every 
uneducated  one,  does  not  raise  his  voice  on  high  in  behalf  of 
learning." 

"  I  am  not  certain  that  an  educated  Mr.  Littlefield  would 
be  worth  as  much  to  us  as  the  uneducated  one,"  said  Mrs. 
Douglass.  "Fervent  piety  and  good  sense  are  the  principal 
requisites.  Your  mind  is  now  occupied  with  the  thoughts 
and  images  of  your  people ;  but  how  it  would  be,  if  it  was  full 
of  classical  lore,  it  is  hard  to  tell.  The  learned,  distinguished 
Rev.  Dr.  Littlefield  might  perhaps  gratify  and  amuse  every 
hundredth  man  among  us ;  while  the  plain,  uneducated  Mr. 
Littlefield  hits  the  ninety  and  nine,  and  equally  benefits  the 
others." 

"  I  do  not  consider  the  worldly  and  irrelevant  character 
which  you  ascribe  to  a  learned  ministry  as  at  all  necessary. 
It  may  be  equally  simple,  equally  fervent,  equally  acceptable 
to  ordinary  minds,  and  yet  vastly  more  rich  in  thought,  dis- 
criminating in  analysis,  and  powerful  in  the  application  of 
divine  truth,"  said  Mr.  Littlefield. 

"I  confess  my  ideas  of  Mr.  Skampton  have  had  too  much 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       281 

influence  with  me.  We  have  suffered  so  much  from  him,  and 
he  has  been  such  a  cruel  enemy  to  Charles,  that  I  am  afraid 
of  those  institutions  over  which  his  money  gives  him  so 
much  control.  But,  if  our  son  must  go  into  the  mill  again, 
why,  then  he  must." 

"  Those  feelings,  Mrs.  Douglass,  you  must  control,"  said 
Mr.  Holliston.  "  Skampton  and  all  of  us  will  soon  pass  off 
the  stage,  but  your  son  may  be  expected  to  remain  to  do  his 
work  for  another  generation ;  and  shall  we  send  him  to  it 
unprepared?  Shall  we  allow  the  present  social  abuses  to 
divert  him  from  the  highest  degree  of  intellectual  and  moral 
discipline,  and  leave  him  to  do  his  work  with  an  inferior 
grade?  That  would  not  be  wise." 

"But  where  would  you  send  him?"  said  Mrs.  Douglass. 

"I  should  send  him  to  the  Riverton  Seminary,"  said  Mr. 
Holliston. 

Charles  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  his  mother  exclaimed, 
almost  with  a  shriek,  "  What!  so  near  Mr.  Skampton  ?  " 

"  Skampton  cannot  hurt  him,"  said  Mr.  Holliston.  "That 
is  the  institution  of  our  denomination;  and  you  would  not 
have  him  go  out  of  it,  of  course.  His  prospects  of  success 
depend  very  much  upon  the  educational  imprimatur  which  he 
bears.  If  he  were  to  go  into  an  extra-denominational  in- 
stitution, it  would  prejudice  his  prospects  of  a  place  among 
his  own  people.  We  look  to  our  own  school  of  the  prophets 
for  a  supply,  and  not  to  those  of  other  denominations.  Be- 
sides, your  son  will  need  to  measure  his  talents  and  form 
connections,  with  those  young  men  who  are  to  be  his  associates 
for  life." 

"  Very  well,  Mr.  Holliston,  I  will  consent  to  have  Charles 
go  to  the  Riverton  Seminary,  provided  you  will  go  with  him, 
24* 


282  MAPLETON;   OR, 

and  explore  the  ground,  and  report  to  us  what  we  are  to 
expect." 

"I  am  a  trustee  of  the  institution,"  said  Mr.  Holliston, 
•{  and  would  be  glad  to  go,  as  I  have  been  so  situated  as  not 
to  be  able  as  yet  to  act  with  them."  Accordingly,  immediate 
arrangements  were  made  for  Charles'  departure,  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Holliston,  to  become  a  student  in  that  seminary, 
of  which  we  have  already  made  mention,  as  included  in  the 
panoramic  view  from  the  Skampton  mansion. 

The  eddies  and  gyrations  of  party  are,  in  this  country,  the 
wheels  within  a  wheel  to  control  all  the  movements  of  society. 
The  man  who  falls  within  the  suction  is  dragged  down  to  the 
vortex,  whether  he  will  or  not.  It  is  the  Jonah's  fish,  to 
swallow  up  those  who  attempt  to  escape.  There  is  really 
more,  social  independence  in  England  than  with  us,  for  this 
good  reason,  that  the  man  who  expresses  an  opinion  not  con- 
sonant with  his  party  position  is  less  likely  to  lose  his  place. 
The  plebeian  principles  of  a  lord  cannot  deprive  him  of  his 
lordship,  and  a  post-office  scullion  can  vote  for  whom  he 
pleases  without  danger  of  losing  his  bread.  Things  are  more 
fixed,  and  not  so  easily  upset  by  a  thought  or  sentiment  that 
does  not  exactly  tally  with  party  lines.  Here  a  man  had  as 
well  be  out  of  the  world  as  out  of  his  party.  And  it  is  gen- 
erally left  to  the  most  crabbed  and  extreme  partisan  leaders, 
to  determine  the  sense  of  the  party,  and  what  is  legitimate 
to  it.  They  are  its  great  constitutional  lawyers,  whose 
opinions  are  fate,  whose  decrees  destiny,  to  all  within  the 
party  enclosure.  Dulness  is  the  social  umpire,  ignorance 
supreme  dictator,  and  narrow-mindedness  lictor  and  hangman. 
Every  party  has  its  watch-dogs  to  bay  around  its  enclosure. 
This  state  of  things  is  a  restraint  upon  freedom.  Who  wishes 
to  be  barked  at,  even  if  he  is  not  bit  ?  A  man  is  forced  to 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW. 

mind  what  he  says.     His  position  depends  upon  it.     An 
incautious  word  or  sentence  spoken  or  written  by  him,  and, 

"  Fluttering  his  pennons  vain,  plumb  down  lie  drops, 
Ten  thousand  fathoms  deep." 

Skampton  was  becoming  more  and  more  exclusively  eccle- 
siastical in  his  predilections.  He  had  been  driven  to  this  by 
the  result  of  his  law-suits,  following  Bludgeon's  battle  with 
the  devil.  When  the  cause  was  brought  into  court,  there 
was  such  an  expose  made  of  Skampton's  doings  in  the  liquor 
traffic,  as  to  defeat  his  attempts  to  obtain  damages  for  slander. 
The  horrible  ravages  of  his  groggeries  in  Mapleton  and  in 
other  places  were  so- graphically  depicted  by  Bludgeon's  law- 
yer, that  the  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  acquittal  without 
leaving  their  seats.  The  costs  were  all  saddled  upon  poor 
Skampton.  This  destroyed  his  last  hope  of  putting  down  the 
temperance  movement  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  law,  and  led 
him  for  asylum  to  the  chujjifc.  Like  that  wily,  hoary-headed 
courtier,  Joab,  he  caught  hold  of  the  horns  of  the  altar,  and 
hoped  to  save  himself  and  the  liquor  traffic  by  ecclesiastical 
proscription.  Skampton  had  an  innate  as  well  as  educa- 
tional predilection  for  ecclesiastical  matters.  He  had  thought 
of  studying  for  the  ministry  himself,  and  nothing  but  dulness 
deterred  him.  It  was  really  this  tendency  of  his  character 
that  led  him  to  refrain  so  entirely  from  drinking,  though  he 
never  acknowledged  it  to  others,  or  even  to  himself.  What 
may  seem  a  little  remarkable,  also,  was  that  Skampton,. 
Bludgeon  and  Douglass,  were  all  in  the  same  ecclesiastical 
enclosure.  Modern  reform  has  made  strange  bedfellows ;  or, 
rather,  has  led  the  lion  and  lamb,  the  cow  and  bear,  to  lie 
down  together,  without  losing  their  oppugnance  of  nature. 
Skampton,  after  failing  in  his  law-suits,  was  directing  his 


284  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

mighty  influence  to  the  one  point,  of  producing  such  a  state 
of  things  in  his  church  that  it  should  sicken  of  characters 
like  Bludgeon  and  all  his  crew,  and  vomit  them  forth.  Such 
were  his  tendencies  and  his  measures  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Hollis- 
ton's  visit  to  the  Riverton  Seminary,  in  company  with  young 
Douglass.  His  conservatism,  therefore,  had  become  essen- 
tially dogmatical,  though  it  had  in  view  to  reach,  by  another 
process,  the  practical  results  of  business,  legislation,  and  all 
those  worldly  matters  which  he  so  much  desired  to  control. 
If  an  enemy  is  only  knocked  in  the  head,  what  is  the  differ- 
ence whether  it  is  done  by  legal  prosecution  or  ecclesiastical 
proscription,  by  public  assault  or  private  scandal,  by  a  church 
club  or  a  state  club  ?  The  state  club  .had  failed,  and  the 
church  club  must  now  be  put  in  requisition. 

Hence,  Skampton  gave  more  than  usual  attention  to  the 
Riverton  Seminary.  He  hoped  to  raise  up  a  phalanx  of 
young  men  to  echo  his  own  views  from  Dan  to  Beersheba. 
He  lavished  more  money  than  dter  in  purchasing  influence, 
and  yet  the  supply  did  not  equal  the  demand.  He  filled  the 
seminary  with  his  creatures,  and  deposed  those  who  would 
not  become  so.  Dr.  Treadmill,  the  principal,  could  not  say 
his  soul  was  his  own.  It  was  not  his  own,  for  Skampton  had 
monopolized  it.  A  majority  despotism  is  bad  enough,  but 
not-  to  be  compared  with  a  one  man  power.  We  can  bear 
the  diffused  rays  of  the  sun,  but  who  can  endure  their  focal 
heat  ?  Even  steel  melts  under  it  like  wax.  So,  after  Skamp- 
ton had  bought  up  and  monopolized  in  himself  all  the  rays  of 
his  party  influence,  the  strongest  men  melted  away  at  his 
touch.  Dr.  Treadmill  could  not  stand  against  his  influence. 
The  seminary,  of  which  he  was  the  nominal  head,  was  but  a 
liquefied  and  conglomerated  mass  of  Skamptonism.  What 
Treadmill  would  have  been,  if  he  had  been  disintegrated, 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  285 

there  is  no  telling.  We  are  inclined  to  think  favorably  of  his 
individuality,  had  the  thing  been  possible.  But  what  can  be 
said  for  a  man  -who  has  no  alternative  but  to  lose  his  place,  or 
swallow  a  Jonah  ?  Treadmill  not  only  swallowed  Skampton, 
but  a  text-book  of  six  hundred  pages,  which  he  committed 
verbatim  et  literatim,  because  Skampton  thought  that  dead 
men's  opinions  were  safer  to  an  institution  than  attempting  to 
think  for  ourselves.  The  students  would  now  and  then 
chuckle  at  poor  Treadmill's  expense,  calling  him  whale, 
because  he  had  such  an  immense  swallow  for  dead  men's 
ideas,  and  none  for  his  own. 

"  Dr.  Treadmill,  what  is  the  governing  principle  of  your 
institution?"  inquired  Mr.  Holliston,  in  an  interview  which 
he  had  with  that  gentleman  in  the  seminary  buildings. 

"  It  is  this,  sir, —  that  second-hand  materials  are  safer  to 
orthodoxy  than  attempting  to  originate  for  ourselves,"  said 
Dr.  Treadmill,  with  his  eyes  resting  on  a  curtain  drawn 
across  an  arched  recess  on  one  side  of  the  room  in  which  they 
were  conversing. 

"  What !  do  you  think  it  sufficient  to  put  a  bone  of  John 
Calvin  into  the  hands  of  a  young  man  to  fight  the  battles  of 
the  living  age?" 

"  I  had  rather  trust  him  with  Calvin's  bone  than  with 
that  of  any  man  now  on  earth." 

"  Ay,  yes ;  well,  well,  I  see,"  said  Mr.  Holliston,  thought- 
fully; "then  you  think  here  that  human  nature  is  an  im- 
mense petrifaction,  and  those  who  were  long  since  converted  to 
stone  are  more  indurated  and  best  for  the  living  structure." 

"  Precisely  so,  Mr.  Holliston.  They  are  the  primeval  or 
granitic  formation,  in  matters  of  opinion.  What  has  come 
down  to  us  in  the  black  and  white  of  the  old  creed-makers 
can  be  relied  on,  because  it  has  become  venerable  ;  but  there 
is  no  certainty  of  what  we  think  out  for  ourselves." 


286  MAPLETON;    OB, 

"Just  so;  I  see,  to  be  sure,"  said  Mr.  Holliston,  abstract- 
edly ;  "  then  your  mill  grinds  over  the  bran  of  past  ages,  in 
preference  to  the  products  of  a  present  harvest." 

"Yes;  for  this  good  reason,  that  it  is  a  perfect  security 
against  smut,"  said  Treadmill,  still  eying  the  curtain. 

Mr.  Holliston  laughed  outright  at  this,  saying,  "  Really, 
this  is  a  new  idea.  But  there  was  more  smut  in  the  reason- 
ing of  past  ages  than  there  is  in  our  own ;  for  they  had  not 
the  same  aids  to  truth, —  none  except  those  who  were  divinely 
inspired.  So,  you  are  grinding  over  the  bran  of  old  smut 
kernels,  for  fear  of  getting  into  your  grist  some  of  the  smut 
kernels  of  the  new  harvest." 

Treadmill  said  nothing,  but  eyed  the  curtain. 

"  Do  you  confine  your  young  men  to  making  arguments 
against  Rabbis  and  Sophists,  because  Paul  expended  so  much 
of  his  thunder  upon  them?"  said  Mr.  Holliston. 

"  0,  no;  we  content  ourselves  with  pointing  our  guns  just 
as  John  Calvin  did  his,"  said  Treadmill,  with  his  eyes  still 
fixed  in  the  same  direction. 

"Why,  this  is  like  putting  on  the  armor  Don  Quixote 
fought  the  windmills  with,  to  do  battle  in  the  midst  of  can- 
non, bombs,  Paixhan  guns,  and  steam-frigates." 

"Can't  help  it,"  said  Treadmill;  "we  go  for  ortho- 
doxy." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Mr.  Holliston  ;  "but  my  orthodoxy  con- 
sists in  pointing  the  artillery  of  truth,  with  all  the  modern 
helps  for  illustrating  it,  against  the  actual  existing  bulwarks 
of  error.  I  deem  it  heterodoxy  and  nonsense  to  keep  bat- 
tering away  upon  positions  which  the  enemy  long  since  aban- 
doned, merely  because  John  Calvin  found  them  occupied  in 
his  day,  and  turned  against  them  the  force  of  his  gigantic 
intellect.  My  orthodoxy  consists  in  meeting  the  questions 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  287 

of  the  age  righfr  manfully,  and,  if  truth  will  not  sustain  you, 
then  die  in  the  struggle." 

"  It  is  useless  to  talk  here.  We  know  what  we  are  ahout," 
said  Treadmill,  still  intent  upon  the  ominous  recess. 

Mr.  Holliston  now  took  his  leave,  and  joined  Douglass  at 
their  hotel,  heartily  disgusted  by  what  he  had  seen.  He  had 
no  sooner  gone  than  Skampton  emerged  from  his  lurking- 
place  in  the  recess,  and  said,  exultingly,  "  Bravo !  bravo  ! 
Dr.  Treadmill,  you  have  acquitted  yourself  valiantly  before 
that  heretical  dotard !  You  have  answered  the  fool  according 
to  his  folly.  I  '11  fix  him.  He  shall  not  hold  place  in  our 
board  another  twelve-month.  We  want  none  who  will  not 
fay  in  with  the  rest  of  us.  The  old  fellow  has  become  very 
cold  to  me,  all  at  once.  We  have  been  long  acquainted,  and 
yet  he  has  not  called  on  me  since  he  came  to  town." 

Mr.  Holliston  was  so  dissatisfied  with  Skampton's  late  rum 
doings  that  he  did  not  care  to  continue  his  acquaintance,  and 
therefore  had  not  called  on  him.  This  was  a  source  of  great 
annoyance  to  Skampton,  which  he  never  forgave. 

"  It  is  time  that  old  fellow  had  walked  the  plank,"  he  said 
to  several  members  of  the  board,  the  same  day. 

"What,  Mr.  Holliston?"  said  one.  "I  thought  he  was 
an  unexceptionable  character." 

"We  want  none  here  to  make  disturbance,"  said  Skampton. 

"  Is  he  troublesome  in  the  way  of  thinking  for  himself?  " 
said  another. 

"It  is  enough  to  know  that  he  will  never  blend  in  with 
ws,"  said  Skampton. 

"  How  will  you  get  rid  of  him  ?  "  inquired  a  third.  "  His 
age  and  reputation  give  him  a  controlling  influence  with  the 
public." 

"  That  is  easy  enough.     Write  what  he  is, — c  heretic,' — 


288  MAPLETON;    OR, 

and  pin  it  on  his  back,  and  then  see  how  much  influence  he 
•will  have.  Pegan's  caustics  will  do  the  work.  Do  you  think 
our  folks  will  have  in  this  board  a  man  suspected  of  heresy?  " 

"  If  that  won't  do,"  said  another,  "we  '11  send  our  young 
men  all  abroad,  to  cry  mad  dog  against  him.  If  a  man  will 
make  himself  troublesome  to  us,  he  must  take  the  conse- 
quences. Let  him  be  cashiered,  that  others  may  fear  to  go 
against  our  measures." 

"It  is  the  more  necessary  to  make  our  power  felt  just 
now,  and  to  remove  all  from  among  us  who  will  not  go  to 
the  extreme  against  these  temperance  agitators,  because  I  am 
now  arranging  to  exscind  them  all  by  a  single  blow  of  disci- 
pline. We  cannot  and  will  not  have  among  us  a  class  of  men 
who  array  themselves  against  all  the  precedents  of  trade,  as 
well  as  of  truth.  Our  church  must  drive  them  out  with  a 
scourge  of  small  cords." 

While  Skampton  delivered  himself  of  this  speech,  his 
expression  of  firmness  and  dictatorial  power  would  have  done 
honor  to  Hildebrand  or  Henry  VIII.  Accordingly,  a  train 
of  measures  was  set  on  foot  against  the  venerable  Holliston, 
which  made  his  position  uncomfortable ;  and,  not  caring 
longer  to  retain  an  official  position  in  anything,  he  quietly 
resigned. 

When  Mr.  Holliston  met  Charles  at  the  hotel,  after  his 
interview  with  Treadmill,  he  was  smiling,  and  repeating,  in  a 
funny  way,  the  line  of  Watts  : 

"  Hark  from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound  !  " 

"  Are  you  from  the  tombs?  "   inquired  Charles,  laughing. 
"  Yes,  direct ;  this  is  a  region  of  death." 
"  What !  nothing  to  feed  life  upon  ?  " 
"  Nothing  fit  to  give  the  dogs." 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE    LAW.  289 

"Why  so?" 

"  Would  you  feed  your  dogs  on  bones  centuries  old?  " 

"Can  you  not  get  a  more  recent  supply?"  inquired 
Charles,  still  laughing  immoderately. 

"  No,  the  theology  here  dates  back  to  Noah's  drunkenness, 
where  they  get  their  liquor  traffic  and  drinking  habits." 

"My  mother,  then,  is  not  so  far  out  of  the  way." 

"  No,  no;  her  instinct  is  better  than  our  reason.  She  saw, 
at  a  glance,  the  nakedness  of  the  land.  I  must  yield  to  her 
superior  discernment." 

"What  is  to  be  done?" 

"  That  is  a  hard  question.  What  you  want  is  a  thorough 
discipline  of  your  spiritual  affections.  These  in  tune,  Charles, 
theology  will  come  forth  from  your  soul  like  music  from  the 
strings  of  an  .ZEolian  harp  touched  by  the  winds  of  heaven. 
But  for  you  to  be  put  into  the  rack  of  obsolete  opinions,  and 
screwed  into  the  form  of  notions  that  long  since  lost  the 
reason  which  may  have  justified  them  when  they  sprang  up, 
is  to  make  of  you  a  mere  automaton.  They  will  squeeze  out  of 
you  all  the  juices  of  nature.  I  wonder  they  do  not  send  our 
soldiers  to  acquire  Achilles'  mode  of  warfare,  and  our  spin- 
sters to  learn  of  Priam's  daughters  how  to  turn  the  spindle. 
0,  for  one  place  where  young  men  could  be  trained  to  apostolic 
simplicity  of  thought,  purity  of  diction,  energy  of  action,  and 
aptitude  to  preach  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  !  0,  for  one 
place  where  soul  took  possession  of  form,  and  living  thought 
of  dead  opinions  !  I  would  recommend  you  to  it,  if  it  was 
in  the  sect  reputed  most  heretical  of  any  in  the  land." 

"  Would  you  recommend  me  to  leave  ?  " 

1 '  I  hardly  know  what  to  recommend.  If  the  institution 
here  were  not  arrayed  against  the  reforms  of  the  age,  I 
should  think  better  of  it ;  as  it  is,  my  advice  is  for  you  to 
25 


290  MAPLETON;    OR, 

stay  here  under  a  private  tutor  in  Hebrew  and  Biblical 
exegesis.  Your  Greek  and  Latin  are  already  sufficient. 
Wait  a  few  months,  and  perhaps  some  light  may  arise  pn  this 
difficult  subject.  Perhaps  you  may  think  it  best  to  enter  the 
seminary  in  due  form,  if  they  will  take  you,  which  I  much 
doubt,  from  the  fear  entertained  of  having  some  one  among 
them  whom  they  cannot  hew  to  the  length  of  their  Procrus- 
tean bed." 

Accordingly,  such  a  tutor  was  found  in  one  of  the  professors, 
who  consented  to  do  the  extra  work  of  teaching  Charles  for 
the  extra  pay,  which  his  meagre  salary  made  the  more 
acceptable.  Skampton's  policy  was  to  reduce  all  around  him 
to  the  lowest  possible  allowance,  that  he  might  have  the  more 
to  buy  influence  with.  He  was  coming  to  a  pinch,  and 
expected  a  demand  for  more  than  all  his  funds,  to  coerce  his 
denomination  into  the  excision  of  Bludgeon  and  his  party. 
He  was  now,  therefore,  specially  economical. 

Before  leaving  town,  Mr.  Holliston  accepted  an  invitation 
to  hear  one  of  Treadmill's  recitations.  The  professor  took 
pains  to  show  off"  to  the  best  possible  advantage,  and,  there- 
fore, proposed  some  extra  questions,  among  which  was  the 
following : 

"  Can  you  tell  me  which  of  the  gracious  affections  is  prior, 
in  the  order  of  nature? " 

"  No,"  said  the  young  man  whose  turn  it  was  to  answer, — 
being  one  of  those  who,  unfortunately,  now  and  then  thought 
for  himself. 

With  evident  Displeasure  at  such  an  answer,  Treadmill 
called  up  another,  whose  spirit  was  kindred  to  his  own,  and 
repeated  the  same  question  to  him. 

"I  perceive  that  the  point  of  the  doctor's  inquiry  is  this." 
said  the  young  man;  "whether  repentance,  faith,  love,  or 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  291 

which  exercise,  is  first  in  a  converted  person.  Now,  you 
know  our  Saviour  has  set  us  the  example  of  speaking  in 
parables.  Well,  then,  we  will  suppose  that  all  the  exercises 
of  a  regenerated  heart  are  like  the  buckets  of  a  water-wheel; 
and,  the  question  is,  when  the  water  is  let  on,  which  bucket 
starts  first  1  My  answer  is,  the  one  that  the  water  strikes 
first." 

To  make  this  appear,  he  went  into  the  science  of  hydraulics, 
showing  that  as  the  motion  is  in  the  water,  and  inseparable 
from  the  water,  it  must  begin  in  the  bucket  which  the  water 
touches  first.  He  added,  "The  tendency  is  to  drive  that 
bucket  in  a  right  line,  which  it  would,  undoubtedly,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  strong  timbers  connecting  it  with  the  other  buckets. 
Hence,  the  impulse,  being  diffused  through  those  timbers  over 
the  whole  wheel,  sets  all  its  parts  in  motion,  not  in  a  right  line, 
but  curvilinearly.  So,  I  conceive,  that  the  motion  is  in  the 
Spirit  of  God.  That  strikes  the  bucket  of  love,  which  is 
prior  in  the  order  of  nature  to  all  the  other  graces,  tending 
to  move  it  by  itself  and  in  a  right  line ;  but,  being  connected 
with  all  the  other  graces  by  indissoluble  ties,  moves  the  whole 
not  directly,  but  circularly,  producing  in  the  soul  the  beauties 
of  curvilinear  motion,  like  the  spheres." 

Here,  giving  a  flourish  among  the  stars,  the  young  man  sat 
down,  while  Treadmill  looked  round  with  a  self-satisfied  air, 
as  if  to  say,  "  You  see  what  we  can  do."  He  felt  the  more 
gratified  at  the  fortunate  turn  the  question  had  taken,  because 
it  illustrated  a  theory  of  his,  that  love  is  dropped  into  a  man's 
heart  from  heaven  without  any  antecedent  exercise  in  that 
heart  itself,  just  as  the  moon  is  said  to  drop  upon  the  earth 
the  pumice  of  its  burning  mountains. 


292  MAPLETON;   OR, 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   PLOT    THICKENS. 

"  I  have  't;  —  it  is  engendered  !     Hell  and  night 
Must  bring  this  monstrous  birth  to  the  world's  light !  " 

SHAKSPEAHK. 

WHEN  change  is  undertaken  from  interest,  and  not  from 
principle,  it  often  yokes  itself  with  conservatism  to  keep  back 
specific  improvements.  Thus  Gilfort  was  united  with  Skamp- 
ton  in  money-making  and  against  temperance,  to  further  his 
own  peculiar  novelties,  and  to  gain  his  own  personal  ends. 
After  returning  and  remaining  with  his  colony  in  the  West  a 
year  or  two,  we  meet  with  him  again  in  Skampton's  library. 
His  arrival  was  with  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  dis- 
tinguished man  of  the  world,  in  a  beautiful  carriage,  with 
elegantly  caparisoned  horses,  being  now,  through  the  sale  of 
his  lands  and  the  contributions  of  his  followers,  well  to  do  in 
the  world.  He  took  the  precaution  of  coming  under  the 
cover  of  darkness,  because  his  mission  required  it. 

"Bless  me!"  said  Skampton,  starting  up  from  his  arm- 
chair as  he  recognized  his  visitor;  "Mr.  Gilfort,  is  this 
you?" 

"  Yes,  me,"  answered  Gilfort,  shaking  him  cordially  by 
the  hand.  "  My  friend,  you  look  well ;  in  fine  spirits,  I  see. 
I  never  saw  you  look  better  in  my  life.  I  '11  be  bound  you 
are  younger  than  when  we  met  last." 

•  "A  good  conscience,  Mr.  Gilfort,  brings  quiet  and  health ; 
and  health  and  quiet  bring  a  youthful  appearance." 

"  Indeed,  my  friend  ;  no  man  ever  laid  a  better  foundation 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       293 

of  a  good  conscience  than  yourself.  Always  plodding  for  the 
public  good,  I  see,"  added  Gilfort,  observing  in  his  hands  a 
roll,  on  which  he  seemed  to  have  been  laboring. 

"  Lay  off  your  coat,  lay  off  your  coat,  Mr.  Gilfort;  I  am 
too  absent-minded  to  be  polite."  Upon  which  Mr.  Gilfort 
doffed  his  outer  garment,  and  disclosed  underneath  a  black 
suit  of  the  finest  texture,  elegantly  wrought  with  silk  and 
velvet,  and  ornamented  with  gold  in  all  the  forms  in  Avhich 
that  metal  could  be  conveniently  worn  by  a  man  acting  tho 
part  he  assumed.  Everything  betokened  one  from  the  mines 
of  Potosi.  rather  than  from  the  dupes  of  his  artifice  in  the 
backwoods. 

"  Mr.  Skampton,"  said  Gilfort,  taking  out  a  well-filled 
purse  and  throwing  it  carelessly  on  the  table,  "  I  have  come, 
this  time,  prepared  to  show  my  interest  in  your  seminary  by 
a  present  for  its  library." 

"  Very  opportune,"  said  Skampton,  his  eyes  glistening  with 
delight ;  "  the  increase  of  our  library  is  a  thing  upon  which  I 
am  just  now  bestowing  much  attention." 

"  Is  Charles  Douglass  a  pupil? 

"  We  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  him,  sir;  he  is  below 
contempt?  " 

"  But  he  is  in  your  town,  is  he  not?  " 

"  I  hear  he  is,  and,  in  fact,  I  have  met  him  occasionally  in 
the  street ;  but  do  not  know  him,  nor  he  me,  I  am  happy  to 
say." 

"Well.  I  am  distressed  that  he  is  again  making  that  lovely 
girl,  Sarah  Harcourt,  his  victim.  I  have  done  my  utmost  to 
save  her ;  but  a  man  with  whom  I  intrusted  a  matter  be- 
trayed me,  —  a  rare  thing  of  one  whom  I  trust,  —  and  their 
acquaintance  has  been  renewed." 

"  That  is  the  very  subject  I  have  been  this  day  belaboring, 
25* 


294  MAPLETON  J     OR, 

I  have  here  drawn  up  a  document  to  Mr.  Harcourt,  advising 
him  by  all  means  to  break  up  the  connection  between  his 
daughter  and  Douglass." 

He  read  the  -documeat. 

"A  capital  thought,  a  timely  and  benevolent  warning!" 
said  Gilfort,  his  snaky  eyes  beaming  malicious  delight.  "But 
you  mistake  the  mode  of  accomplishing  your  object.  Excuse 
me,  but  I  know  the  ground,  I  see,  better  than  you  do.  Har- 
court is  under  the  absolute  control  of  his  daughter,  and  she 
will  be  sure  to  counteract  what  you  have  written.  Better  go 
in  person ;  and  then,  let  me  tell  you,  you  will  not  succeed  till 
you  fully  assure  Mr.  Harcourt  of  the  certain  ruin  of  his 
family,  if  this  connection  is  not  broken  up.  The  daughter,  I 
know,  you  cannot  persuade.  I  have  been  to  New  York ;  I 
know  all  about  it." 

"  Is  he  such  a  fool  as  to  consent,  after  what  I  wrote  him?  " 

"  No,  he  does  not  consent.  In  his  heart  he  is  more  op- 
posed to  it  than  any  of  ue.  But  his  daughter's  influence 
over  him  is  such,  and  his  desire  of  pleasing  her  in  all  things 
so  great,  that  he  seems  to  have  waived  all  objections,  keeps 
quiet,  and  leaves  things. to  drift." 

"What  is  to  be  done?"  said  Skampton,  anxiously.  "This 
fellow  is  a  ringleader  against  us  conservatives,  and  such  a 
marriage  will  make  him  a  formidable  beast" 

"  I  will  tell  you;  I  see  it  all.  You  must,  as  I  say,  fully 
establish  the  fact  of  the  ruin  Douglass  will  bring  upon  the 
family,  so  as  to  leave  no  doubt  with  Harcourt  on  this  point. 
Then  you  may  expose  the  infamy  of  Douglass  to  the  daugh- 
ter, and  it  is  barely  possible  you  may  make  some  impression 
upon  her,  which  I  do  not  expect.  But  Harcourt  will  force 
himself  into  measures  for  her  final  separation  from  this  fellow, 
rather  than  suffer  the  ruin  of  his  house.  He  will  not  do  it 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       295 

openly,  for  he  has  not  a  heart  to  oppose  her  wishes ;  but  he 
will  do  it  clandestinely,  if  any  feasible  method  could  be  pro- 
posed by  a  man  of  your  standing." 

"What  method  can  I  propose,  Mr.  Gilfort?" 

"  I  will  tell  you.  There  live,  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  the 
Wyoming,  a  wealthy  and  accomplished  gentleman  and  lady  of 
the  name  of  Marmot,  whose  influence  will  be  likely  to  cure 
Miss  Harcourt  of  her  infatuation ;  or,  at  all  events,  they  will 
break  up  all  further  connection  between  her  and  Douglass." 

' '  How  should  that  be  possible,  so  long  as  the  pulse  of  the 
mail  beats  at  almost  every  point  in  the  land  1  " 

"  But  mails,  my  friend,  are  fingered  by  men  ;  and  men, 
for  a  consideration,  are  capable  of  appliances.  I  know  of  one 
here  who  will  intercept  the  love  ditties  of  Miss  Harcourt,  so 
that  Douglass  may  search  in  vain  for  her  whereabouts  ;  and 
I  '11  pledge,  for  the  Marmots,  that  his  shall  share  the  same 
fate." 

"Would  such  a  plot  be  right?"  said  Skampton,  whose 
conscience  felt  the  pinch  of  so  bold  a  fraud. 

Gilfort  saw  that  he  had  leaked  out  too  much  of  his  heart, 
and  hence  exclaimed,  with  great  apparent  sincerity,  "  May 
God  temper  with  discretion  and  virtue  my  zeal  to  do  a  good 
office  !  After  all,  is  it  a  fraud?  Is  it  an  unworthy  step,  in 
a  father,  to  intercept  the  flow  of  poison  to  the  mind  of  a 
child  1  I  am  merely  suggesting  a  plan  on  which  Mr.  Har- 
court himself  may  act.  You  and  I  have  no  responsibility  in 
the  matter.  We  can  assure  him  that,  in  the  family  of  the 
Marmots,  Sarah  will  have  all  and  more  than  her  station  in 
life  requires  ;  will  be  surrounded  by  friends  refined  and  affec- 
tionate, a  country  beautifully  romantic,  and,  above  all,  that 
her  situation  will  utterly  preclude  the  possibility  of  further 
communication  between  her  and  Douglass." 


296  MAPLETON;    OR, 

"  But  suppose  he  insists  upon  knowing  how  this  is  to  be 
brought  about, —  what  then  ?  " 

"  Why,  in  that  case,  you  can  assure  him  of  the  consum- 
mate address  of  the  Marmots,  of  their  experience  in  such  mat- 
ters ;  and  that  they  will  be  sure  to  do  it  entirely  to  his  satis- 
faction, provided  he  should  request  it." 

"Let  me  see,':  said  Skampton,  thoughtfully;  "is  it  doing 
as  I  would  be  done  by  1  If  Sarah  were  my  daughter, —  hum 
—  mum.  But  I  was  about  to  say,  if  Sarah  were  my  daugh- 
ter, and  I  saw  her  in  the  jaws  of  certain  ruin,  would  it  not 
be  right  for  me,  in  virtue  of  my  parental  authority,  to  take 
measures,  secretly  and  against  her  will,  to  save  her?"  Would 
she  not  thank  me  for  it,  in  after  years  ?  Yes,  yes,  no  doubt. 
Then  am  I  not  doing  as  I  would  be  done  by,  in  advising  Har- 
court  to  the  same  course?"  By  the  time  Skampton  had 
gone  over  these  thoughts  in  his  mind,  he  was  resolved ;  and, 
leaping  up  of  a  sudden,  he  exclaimed,  "  Yes,  my  excellent 
Gilfort,  I  see  you  are  right.  If  your  plan  promises  to  suc- 
ceed, there  can  be  no  objection  on  the  score  of  conscience. 
But  will  it  succeed?  " 

"My  friend,"  said  Gilfort,  earnestly,  feeling  that  his  point 
was  gained,  "  you  can  assure  Harcourt,  as  a  gentleman  and 
a  Christian,  that  no  more  communications  will  pass  between 
his  daughter  and  Douglass,  after  she  is  introduced  into  the 
Marmot  family,  provided  he  shall  give  orders  to  that  effect. 
You  know  deceit  is  no  part  of  my  character ;  and  I  should 
not  tell  you  this,  did  not  my  acquaintance  with  the  skill  and 
address  of  that  family  give  me  perfect  confidence  of  its 
truth."' 

"But  how  will  Mr.  Harcourt  induce  his  daughter  to  visit 
Wyoming?  Perhaps  she  may  refuse." 

"  That  we  will  leave  to  him.     Assured  byyou  of  her  ruin, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       297 

unless  the  step  is  taken,  he  will  find  means  of  bringing  it 
about.  Nothing  could  be  more  likely  to  captivate  such  a 
mind  as  hers  than  the  idea  of  spending  time  in  the  beautiful 
and  poetical  valley  of  the  Wyoming."  Gilfort  spoke  advis- 
edly, for  he  knew  that  this  had  been  an  old  desire  of  Miss 
Harcourt. 

"  Very  well ;  we  will  leave  details  to  Harcourt  himself.  I 
like  your  suggestion,  in  the  main,  and  will  promptly  and 
conscientiously  perform  my  part." 

"I  have  no  motive  but  humanity  and  friendship  for  the 
Harcourts,"  said  Gilfort,  graciously.  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that,  by  this  act,  Mr.  Skampton.  you  will  add  another  to 
your  many  deeds  of  philanthropy,  and  provide  a  sweet  solace 
for  the  pains  of  your  dying  day." 

"  Ah,  my  friend,  my  life  is  spent  in  the  self-denying  labor 
of  doing  good,"  said  Skampton,  with  a  look  which  would 
have  done  credit  to  any  saint  in  the  calendar.  Poor  man ! 
how  little  did  he  realize  the  snare  in  which  he  was  taken  to 
his  own  ruin ! 

"But  your  reward  is  on  high,  my  excellent  Mr.  Skamp- 
ton ;  and  it  will  be  a  great  and  shining  one,  as  suited  to  your 
many  virtues." 

The  result  of  this  interview  was,  that  Mr.  Skampton 
started,  post-haste,  for  New  York,  to  execute  the  plan.  He 
was  ignorant  of  the  darker  shades  of  Gilfort's  character,  and 
had  no  just  appreciation  of  the  plot  to  which  he  was  lending 
himself.  He  was  incapable  of  so  dark  a  deed.  His  ultra 
conservatism,  united  to  'a  desire  of  influence  and  control  which 
by  this  time  had  grown  to  be  a  monomania,  was  his  ruin.  He 
was  determined  to  force  the  liquor  traffic,  slavery,  and  every 
antiquated  notion,  down  the  necks  of  posterity ;  and,  in  order 
to  do  it,  he  desired  to  finger  and  control  everything.  Do- 


298  MAPLETOX ;     OR, 

mestic  matters,  marriage  contracts,  everything  would  go 
wrong,  without  his  pious  watch-care.  Some  apology  must 
be  made  for  him,  because  he  was  so  frequently  consulted  on 
these  points, —  a  circumstance  which  gradually  wrought  in 
him  the  feeling  that  he  had  a  right  to  dictate,  whether  asked 
or  not.  Experience  taught  him  that  the  interests  in  refer- 
ence to  which  he  made  such  enormous  purchases  of  influence 
could  not  be  managed  without  looking  after  the  private  mat- 
ters of  individuals  and  families.  Against  Charles  Douglass 
he  had  a  bitter  dislike  ever  after  his  personal  altercation  with 
him ;  and  this  feeling  had  been  further  inflamed  by  the  efforts 
which  had  been  made,  both  before  the  courts  of  justice  and 
the  public  at  large,  to  implicate  him  in  the  drunkenness  of 
Charles'  father.  This  seemed  to  him  a  most  preposterous 
idea,  that,  because  he  owns  the  house  in  which  a  man  gets 
drunk,  therefore  he  is  guilty  of  making  him  drunk.  He 
would  gnash  his  teeth,  when  the  subject  was  mentioned ;  and, 
because  Charles  had  often  charged  him  with  instigating  the 
crime  of  his  father,  there  was  nothing  too  bad  for  him  to  do 
and  say  against  that  young  man.  Besides,  Skampton  was  at 
this  very  time  preparing  to  prosecute  Bludgeon  and  his  party 
in  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals;  and  it  was  material  to  his  suc- 
cess that  the  voice  of  Mapleton  should  be  silenced.  Mr. 
Holliston  he  had  already  forced  off  the  track ;  and  he  knew 
Charles  Douglass  would  be  as  good  as  dead,  if  cut  off  forever 
from  the  Harcourts.  Such  was  the  man  now  bent  upon  the 
ruin  of  this  already  afflicted  and  persecuted  young  aspirant  to 
the  clerical  calling. 

Mr.  Skampton  was  announced  to  Mr.  Harcourt  and  his 
daughter,  who  hastened  to  receive  him  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  his  distinguished  position.  It  happened  that  De  Lisle  had 
called,  and  was  engaged  in  familiar  conversation  with  Sarah 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       299 

at  the  time  of  his  arrival ;  and  Skampton,  observing  the 
noble  person  and  gentlemanly  manners  of  the  young  man, 
felt  a  secret  hope  that  a  more  engaging  suitor  had  already 
accomplished  the  work  on  which  he  came ;  and,  retiring  to 
an  adjoining  room,  he  said  to  Mr.  Harcoiirt,  "I  see  the 
urchin  who  had  the  battle  with  the  deer  is  likely  to  get  the 
slip." 

" The  slip?  No;  I  wish  in  my  heart  he  might !  But  no 
one  else  has  any  influence  with  my  deluded  child,"  said  the 
father  of  Sarah,  with  bitter  chagrin,  that  her  heart  should  not 
be  open  to  such  a  man  as  De  Lisle,  of  whose  delicate  inten- 
tions he  had  no  doubt. 

"  Well,  what  is  to  be  done,  in  that  case  1 "  said  Skampton. 

"  Done  ? —  nothing !  Fate,  you  know,  governs ;  we  must 
yield  to  fate." 

"  What!  without  an  effort  to  avoid  the  evil?  " 

"  Perhaps,  after  all,  Douglass  may  make  my  daughter 
happy.  Her  thinking  so  will  do  much  towards  it,  will  it 
not?" 

"No,  Mr.  Harcourt,"  replied  Skampton,  impressively. 
"  I  tell  you,  on  the  honor  of  a  gentleman  and  Christian,  that 
he  will  be  her  ruin.  You  must  suppose  I  have  the  means  of 
knowing ;  and  that,  being  a  young  man  to  whom  I  extended 
charity  at  one  time,  I  should  naturally  desire  his  advance- 
ment." 

"  Was  he  dependent  on  charity  ?  "  replied  Harcourt,  with 
a  sneer. 

"Yes,  on  my  bounty;  and  I  found  him  the  most  impu- 
dent, impertinent,  hair-brained  fellow  I  ever  had  to  do  with. 
Our  college  at  Diddington  was  forced  to  pass  upon  him  an 
act  of  expulsion.  Besides,  his  father  is  one  of  the  most 
furious  drunkards  in  the  country,  and  will  no  doubt  end  his 


300  MAPLETON;    OK, 

days  on  the  gallows.  He  is  always  full  of  murder  as  soon 
as  he  has  liquor  in  his  head ;  and,  like  father  like  son, —  that 
you  may  depend  upon,  in  this  case.  They  are  as  much  alike 
as  two  peas." 

"Is  it  possible?  What  is  to  be  done?"  exclaimed  Har- 
court,  with  blank  astonishment. 

"  I  will  frankly  state  to  her  these  facts,  and  she  will  break 
the  connection  at  once.  She  is  too  good,  too  noble,  to  unite 
her  destiny  with  such  a  base  fellow,  and  such  a  worthless 
family." 

"  0  that  it  might  be  so !  But  I  fear  not.  You  do  not 
know  my  daughter.  She  never  gives  up  a  friend." 

"  Not  when  he  becomes  an  enemy? " 

' '  The  thing  is  to  make  her  believe  that.  You  can  try,  and 
I  will  do  my  utmost  to  help  you.  This  ill-judged  engage- 
ment has  poisoned  all  my  happiness,  since  I  came  to  the  city. 
It  is  too  aggravating  to  see  her  tied  down  to  that  little  coun- 
try rustic,  even  if  he  were  right  in  other  respects,  when 
wealth,  talent  and  noble  blood,  are  at  her  feet." 

As  soon  as  Sarah  was  disengaged,  she  came  tripping  lightly 
into  the  room,  to  show  due  respect  to  their  distinguished  vis- 
itor. ' '  How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Skampton  ?  It  is  a  long  time 
since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you, —  when  I  was  a  little 
girl,  I  think." 

•'  Yes,  in  Mapleton,"  said  Skampton. 

"By  the  way,  have  you  seen  Charles  Douglass,  of  late? 
He  is  in  your  town,  I  think.  You  remember  he  was  confined 
at  our  house  by  an  injury,  when  you  was  with  us  last." 

"I  remember  well,  though,  in  truth,  Miss  Harcourt,  his 
character  is  such  at  present  that  I  should  be  ashamed  to 
confess  I  know  him." 


MOKE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  301 

"What  do  you  mean,  sir?  "  said  Sarah,  with  an  expression 
of  wounded  feeling. 

"Mean?  I  mean  you  have  betrothed  yourself  to  a  man 
as  unworthy  of  you  as  Satan  is  for  a  seat  in  Paradise." 

"  Sir,"  said  Sarah,  calmly,  but  firmly,  "  I  know  Charles 
Douglass, —  I  have  known  him  from  his  childhood  ;  and  the 
testimony  of  a  thousand  prejudiced  witnesses  would  not  shake 
my  confidence  in  him." 

"  My  daughter,"  said  Mr.  Harcourt  with  great  emotion, 
yet  tenderly,  "  do  not  treat  our  worthy  guest  with  dis- 
respect." 

"  I  mean  it  not  so,  dear  father,"  said  Sarah ;  "I  know  the 
circumstances  have  been  such  as  to  give  Mr.  Skampton  a 
prejudiced  view  of  Mr.  Douglass'  character.  I  will  vindicate 
the  rights  of  an  injured  friend.  I  will  let  the  injurer  know 
that  he  can  find  no  favor  with  me.  It  is  useless  to  talk  in 
this  strain.  I  have  all  the  means  of  knowing  Mr.  Douglass' 
character  which  I  desire." 

"My  daughter,  my  daughter!  "  cried  Harcourt,  in  great 
agony  of  mind,  "  consider  seriously  whether  Mr.  Skampton 
has  not  had  better  opportunities  of  judging  than  you  have. 
Do  hear  his  testimony !  Young  men  change.  Whatever  Mr. 
Douglass  was  in  time  past,  he  may  since  have  .become  un- 
worthy of  your  confidence.  Who  has  better  means  of  know- 
ing a  young  man  than  his  benefactor,  feeling,  as  he  may  ba 
supposed  to,  a  father's  interest  in  him  ?  You  are  too  hasty ; 
you  will  not  allow  Mr.  Skampton  to  state  facts." 

"Very  well,  sir;  what  facts  have  you  to  state?"  said 
Sarah. 

"  Facts, —  do  you  ask  me  for  facts?  "  said  Skampton,  with 
nervous  excitement  at  the  promptitude  with  which  Miss  liar- 
court  met  him. 

26 


302  MAPLETON;    OR, 

"  Yes,  please  give  us  one  to  justify  your  views  of  Mr. 
Douglass,"  said  Sarah,  mildly. 

"  His  father  is  a  drunkard,  and  likely  to  be  a  murderer 
too." 

"  Who  made  him  so  ?  Who  held  the  cup  to  his  lips,  in 
spite  of  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  a  wife?"  said  Sarah, 
firmly. 

"  You  are  personal,  Miss.  Do  you  mean  to  insult  me  1  " 
said  Skampton,  now  more  agitated  than  ever. 

"Not  at  all,"  replied  Sarah;  "I  am  after  the  facts.  I 
have  the  means  of  knowing  that  Mr.  Douglass,  senior,  was 
well  born  and  educated,  and  withal  of  a  noble  nature ;  but 
that  he  became  a  victim  of  the  drinking  customs  of  society, 
and  was  ruined.  But  he  reformed,  and  would  now  be 
virtuous  and  happy  as  any  of  us,  but  for  the  temptations 
with  which  interested  men  have  surrounded  him." 

"Does  anybody  compel  him  to  drink?"  said  Skampton, 
with  ill-suppressed  anger. 

"  No,  they  only  take  advantage  of  a  weakness  induced  by 
indulgence  in  drinking,  for  the  sake  of  a  little  paltry  gain. 
But,  then,  what  has  Charles  done  ?  Is  he  to  be  blamed  for 
his  father's  misdeeds  ?  " 

"  No,  he  has  enough  of  his  own,  in  all  conscience.  Ask 
Diddington  College,  from  which  he  was  expelled  for  his 
bad  conduct." 

"  I  have  a  letter  from  the  president  which  tells  a  very 
different  story."  Sarah  now  produced  and  read  from  it  the 
following:  "Mr.  Douglass  was  expelled  for  no  fault  of  his 
own.  He  was  our  best  and  most  orderly  student.  He  was 
sacrificed  to  a  question  of  life  or  death  to  the  college." 

"  The  scoundrel !  the  scoundrel !  "  said  Skampton,  rising 
and  pacing  the  floor  in  an  agitated  manner.  "I  '11  make 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW. 

him  smart  for  that !  The  truth  is,  Miss,  Douglass  was  on  my 
charity,  and  yet  insulted  me  to  my  face.  He  richly  de- 
served expulsion,  and  that  the  faculty  will  say,  in  spite  of 
their  lying  president." 

"He  never  knowingly  accepted  your  bounty,  sir ;  and 
restored  it,  every  cent,  with  interest,  as  soon  as  he  learned 
the  fact.  I  honor  him  for  his  spirit  on  the  occasion." 

"Honor  him  !  honor  him!  "  said  Skampton,  sneeringly; 
"  I  think  he  '11  need  it  when  he  is  deprived  of  the  priesthood. 
Our  denomination  will  depose  him  for  heresy,  as  soon  as  they 
have  time  to  act." 

"  This  is  another  charge ;  —  ptey,  on  what  ground  ?  " 

"  Our  seminary  would  not  receive  him,  if  he  offered,  they 
deem  him  so  unworthy  of  the  calling  to  which  he  aspires." 

"  He  has  not  offered,  I  am  thankful  to  say,"  added  Miss 
Harcourt.  "  Theology  cannot  be  measured  off  by  rules  and 
definitions.  It  shineth  in  the  sun ;  it  beameth  in  the  stars  ; 
it  bloometh  in  the  earth ;  it  speaketh  in  the  Bible ;  it  beateth 
in  the  hearts  of  the  good,  the  least  of  whom  has,  in  himself, 
the  basis  of  an  independent  judgment.  '  He  needeth  not  that 
any  should  teach  him.'  If  Mr.  Douglass  is  what  I  believe 
him  to  be,  I  would  give  more  for  the  theology  he  already  has 
than  all  you  can  teach  him." 

Skampton,  bethinking  that  she  was  a  lady,  restrained  his 
burning  indignation,  saying  to  Harcourt,  in  an  under  tone, 
"  Enough." 

"  Enough,  till  you  state  something  more  conclusive  than 
this,"  added  Miss  Harcourt. 


304  MAPLETON;    OE, 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

DUBIOUS  PRESENTIMENTS. 

•'  Hethinks  I  hear,  methinks  I  see 
Ghosts,  goblins,  fiends; — my  fantasie 
Presents  a  thousand  ugly  shapes; 
Headless  bears,  black  men  and  apes, 
Doleful  outcries  and  fearful  sights 
My  sad  and  dismal  soul  affrights." — BURTON. 

No  further  interviews  took  place  between  Sarah  and  Mr. 
Skampton,  except  of  the  most  formal  and  commonplace  kind. 
But  he  remained  housed  with  her  father  several  days,  divulg- 
ing and  maturing  the  plan  of  Gilfort, —  the  name  of  that 
gentleman,  however,  being  never  mentioned  between  them. 
This  was  probably  owing  to  a  desire,  on  the  part  of  Skampton, 
to  monopolize  the  credit  of  it  to  himself.  Every  particular 
in  reference  to  the  Marmots,  their  precise  location,  character, 
circumstances,  and  fitness  for  the  trust  to  be  committed  to 
them,  were  discussed,  all  of  which  were  made  to  appear  in 
the  most  favorable  light,  and  were  carefully  treasured  up  by 
Mr.  Harcourt.  Sarah,  meantime,  had  a  presentiment  that 
mischief  was  brewing,  though  she  had  not  the  remotest 
suspicion  of  the  real  facts  in  the  case.  The  following  letter 
bears  date  near  the  time  of  Skampton's  visit. 

"  MY  DEAR  CHARLES  :  I  have  a  mysterious  feeling,  which 
I  cannot  get  rid  of,  that  something  is  arising  to  interrupt  the 
freedom  of  our  intercourse.  I  am  not  superstitious,  nor  do 
I  judge  wholly  without  facts.  Those  facts  I  can  state  only 


MORE  WOUK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       305 

in  person.  I  do  not  like  to  interfere  with  your  studies ;  and 
yet,  if  you  need  relaxation  for  a  "week  or  two,  I  hope  you 
will  turn  your  footsteps  this  way.  Happiness  is  too  dear  a 
possession  to  be  left  unguarded,  or  carelessly  thrown  away. 
Let  us,  therefore,  look  out  for  birds  of  passage.  All  you 
ever  was  to  me  you  are ;  and  all  I  ever  was  to  you  I  am.  Is 
not  this  so  ?  Why  do  I  ask  ?  Am  I  not  in  the  hands  of  my 
mother's  God  1  My  serenity  is  undisturbed,  though  occasional 
clouds  intercept  the  bright  beams  of  my  hope.  But  clouds 
diversify  our  mental  as  well  as  our  physical  condition,  and 
teach  us  the  value  of  sunshine.  These  broken  lines  will 
convey  to  you  more  than  to  another,  my  heart,  my  soul,  my 
best  and  most  devoted  interest  in  your  happiness. 

11  SARAH." 

This  letter  was  dictated  by  a  fear  that  he  who  was  capable 
of  slandering  Douglass  to  her  would  be  equally  capable  of 
slandering  her  to  him.  Sarah  deemed  no  explanations  safe, 
in  a  case  like  this,  but  those  which  should  be  made  by  word 
of  mouth.  Charles  replied,  immediately,  that  an  extraor- 
dinary event  had  just  then  occurred  to  detain  him  a  day  or 
two.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  Riverton,  curiosity  to 
see  the  man  whom  Gilfort  had  so  singularly  defrauded  led 
him  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Roderick  Dobson.  He  hoped, 
also,  to  do  somewhat  towards  reforming  the  miserable  man, 
who,  he  learned,  was  now  more  deeply  sunk  in  intemperance 
than  ever.  Nor  were  his  efforts  without  the  promise  of  suc- 
cess. Dobson  relinquished  his  cups  for  a  time,  and  resumed 
his  business.  But  the  loss  of  his  money  preyed  upon  him  so 
much,  when  he  was  sober,  that  he  plunged  again  into  dissipa- 
tion, to  drown  his  trouble.  This  tendency  was  further 
strengthened  by  the  effects  of  the  wound  he  received  on 
26* 


306  MAPLETON;    OR, 

the  night  of  Bludgeon's  battle.  His  nature  seemed  physically, 
mentally,  and  morally,  broken  down,  and  nothing  but  bodily 
coercion  could  keep  him  from  drinking.  He  retained  prop- 
erty enough  still  to  supply  rum  for  his  burning  thirst ;  and 
all,  beyond  a  meagre  support  for  himself  and  wife,  went  that 
way.  His  wife,  so  far  from  checking  him,  had,  from  sympathy 
or  sorrow,  fallen  into  the  same  habits.  The  alcoholic  demon 
reigned  absolute  within  their  doors.  It  was  a  very  pandemo- 
nium for  all  the  possible  devils  of  conjugal  hatred,  abuse, 
contention,  fighting,  and  wretchedness. 

About  a  week  before  the  receipt  of  Sarah's  letter,  Dobson 
had  laid  in  a  barrel  of  whiskey,  after  which  both  of  them  lay 
drunk  night  and  day ;  and  on  the  very  morning  of  the  day 
on  which  he  received  the  letter,  he  called  at  Dobson1  s,  and 
learned  the  state  of  affairs.  Douglass  found  them  both  dead 
drunk,  and  shockingly  bruised  and  blackened  by  the  blows 
which  they  had  inflicted  upon  each  other.  He  watched  over 
them  until  they  became  sober,  furnished  them  with  a  good 
fire  and  an  ample  supply  of  ready-cooked  food,  and  then 
procured  a  little  girl,  at  one  of  the  neighbors',  to  look  after 
them,  and  do  any  little  errands  they  might  find  occasion  for. 
They  were  too  much  debilitated  to  be  left  alone.  He  then 
locked  the  door  of  the  closet  in  which  they  kept  their  whiskey- 
barrel,  and  took  the  key  with  him,  to  make  sure  that  they 
drank  nothing  till  he  should  see  them  again.  On  his  way 
home,  in  the  evening,  he  took  Miss  Harcourt's  letter  from  the 
post-office. 

The  next  morning,  early,  he  repaired  again  to  Dobson's, 
anxious  to  see  them  out  of  their  critical  condition  before 
going  to  New  York.  As  he  approached  the  house,  a  horrible 
odor  assailed  him,  such  as  he  had  never  before  encountered. 
He  looked  round  the  house,  to  detect  the  cause,  but  could  see 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  307 

nothing  but  a  subtle  fume  exuding  from  the  chimney  and 
crevices.  What  can  this  mean  ?  He  knocks  at  the  door, 
but  gets  no  answer.  He  knocks  again  and  again,  but  with 
the  same  result.  He  tries  to  open,  but  finds  it  confined  by  a 
strong  lock.  Why  is  this  1  Where  are  they  ?  The  odor  is 
horrible !  He  goes  to  the  neighbors,  and  inquires  for  the 
little  girl,  and  learns  from  her  that  Dobson  broke  open  the 
closet-door  with  a  sledge,  soon  after  he  left,  and  brought  out 
a  little  four-quart  pail  full  of  the  whiskey,  and  began  to 
drink.  He  then  ordered  away  the  little  girl,  and  locked  the 
door  behind  her. 

Douglass  returned  and  forced  the  door ;  when,  lo !  out 
rushed  a  volley  of  fetid^air,  that  well-nigh  suffocated  him. 
He  stepped  back  a  few  paces,  until  the  room  was  somewhat 
ventilated  through  the  open  door,  when  he  returned,  and, 
horrible  to  tell !  there  lay  the  charred  and  blackened  remains 
of  Dobson,  manifestly  dead  by  spontaneous  combustion  !  The 
room,  and  all  its  furniture,  were  covered  with  a  thick  yellow 
substance,  filthy  and  fetid,  to  shock  every  delicate  sensibility. 
In  another  part  of  the  room  his  wife  also  lay  dead,  as  it 
appeared  partly  from  suffocation  from  the  exhaling  fume  of 
her  burning  husband,  and  partly  from  her  own  excessive 
drunkenness.  The  contents  of  the  pail  were  all  gone.  Dob- 
son  probably  drank  more  than  his  share  of  the  liquor ;  and, 
as  his  constitution  was  already  rendered  combustible  by  pre- 
vious drinking,  this  deep  potation  set  it  on  fire ;  and  it  went 
off  in  blue  flame  and  exhaling  fluid,  extinguishing  both  his 
own  life  and  that  of  his  besotted  companion. 

After  waiting  long  enough  to  bury  all  of  this  miserable 
couple  that  remained  for  interment,  Charles  started,  post- 
haste, for  New  York.  The  few  days  he  spent  with  Sarah 
were  happy  above  thought  or  expression.  Ages  of  pure 


308  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

delight  seemed  compressed  into  a  moment.  They  expatiated 
on  the  events  which  had  occurred  since  they  last  met ;  on  the 
memory  of  Mapleton,  Terracegreen  and  Eerestdale ;  Canau- 
doh.  the  arbor,  their  hopes,  aspirations,  and  the  high  privi- 
lege of  living  to  do  good,  even  in  the  humblest  sphere.  On 
the  subject  of  her  presentiments,  Sarah  frankly  told  all, — 
Skampton's  visit,  her  interview  with  him.  what  he  said  and 
her  replies,  how  her  father  had  since  appeared ;  and  yet,  her 
remarks  were  so  pointed  with  love  that  Douglass  had  a  better 
opinion  of  all  the  parties  concerned  than  he  had  before. 

"  Dear  Sarah,  my  heart  assures  me  that  I  have  no  bitter- 
ness for  Mr.  Skampton,  though  I  have  suffered  more  from 
him  than  any  one  else.  I  pity  the  guilty  more  now  than 
ever,"  said  Douglass,  alluding  to  the  horrible  death  in  which 
Dobson's  sin  had  ended,  of  which  he  had  given  Miss  Har- 
court  a  minute  account. 

"I  know  you  have  suffered  much  from  Mr.  Skampton, 
Charles ;  but  I  had  a  hundred-fold  rather  be  in  your  place 
than  his.  I  pity  the  poor  man's  delusion." 

"Well  you  may.  I  have  watched  him  for  years,  and  do 
not  believe  there  is  a  more  indefatigable  man  living.  He 
really  feels  that  the  care  of  all  the  world  is  upon  him ;  that, 
but  for  him,  the  land  would  be  maddened  by  reform  and 
ultraism;  that  governments  would  run  wild,  the  church 
become  corrupt  to  its  core,  and  everything  go  to  decay.  He 
is  the  pivot,  in  his  own  estimation,  on  which  the  destinies. of 
society  turn." 

"Is  it  possible?  I  am  afraid  of  such  a  man.  Who  is 
secure  against  his  interference?  I  never  understood  him." 

"Well,  it  is  so,  my  dear  Sarah;  though  I  think  these 
feelings  have  increased  upon  him  since  the  failure  of  his  law- 
suits against  Bludgeon.  He  is  now  struggling  to  supply  by 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       309 

influence  his  lack  of  the  physical  coercion  of  the  law.  I  am 
told  by  a  student  who  is  familiar  with  him  that  he  does  not 
sleep  nights.  He  is  running  to  and  fro,  advising  this  and 
advising  that,  dipping  into  this  man's  affairs,  exposing  this 
and  that  one's  imaginary  error  and  wickedness,  circumvent- 
ing this,  that  and  the  other,  supposed  enemy  of  his  conserva- 
tive policy ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  he  has  no  repose. 
This  student  says  he  lives  continually  on  the  borders  of  a 
brain  fever,  and,  on  one  occasion,  was  actually  attacked, 
when  the  young  man  was  called  to  watch  with  him,  and  he 
passed  the  whole  night  in  the  paroxysms  of  insanity,  fisting 
the  wall,  under  the  notion  of  killing  temperance  men,  here- 
tics and  devils.  His  very  complexion  is  blue  with  restless 
care,  and  his  face  is  elongated  beyond  its  usual  dimensions. 
Did  you  ever  see  a  brow  so  heavy  and  deeply  shaded  1  He 
moves  among  us  like  night.  Never  did  a  man  suffer  more 
fictitious  or  more  real  sorrows, —  fictitious  as  to  their  reason, 
but  real  in  their  influence  upon  himself." 

"  Charles,  you  surprise  me.  Is  it  true  that  this  odious 
intermeddling  in  private  affairs  is  common?" 

"Yes,  common  as  the  flakes  of  winter.  He  is  a  perfect 
terrier,  pursuing  his  prey  through  every  subterraneous  wind- 
ing, and  never  giving  it  up.  I  expect  always  to  have  him  on 
my  track,  till  relieved  by  death,  or  the  destruction  of  his 
influence.  He  can  never  forgive,  not  the  wrongs  our  family 
have  done  him,  but  those  that  he  has  done  us.  If  it  were 
the  other  way,  there  would  be  hope ;  but,  so  long  as  his  con- 
science needs  the  relief  of  making  us  the  criminal  party,  he 
will  continue  the  untraced  war." 

"Who  is  safe,  with  such  a  man  to  deal  with?" 

"Echo  says,  'Who?'  How  many  have  been  ruined  by 
his  dogged  pertinacity !  And  yet,  he  is  not  so  bad  a  man  as 


310  MAPLETON;  OB, 

you  and  I  would  be  likely  to  represent.  He  is  one  of  those 
constitutional  conservatists  who  regard  all  change  in  opinion 
or  usage  as  a  personal  injury  done  to  themselves,  and  all 
reformers  enemies  to  their  own  peace  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind.  They  are  the  watch-dogs  to  bark  at  innovation 
and  innovators.  And,  besides,  Skampton  places  an  over- 
estimate on  his  own  influence  and  responsibility.  His  pride 
of  station  is  prodigious.  He  is  not  aware  of  it  himself,  for  it 
enters  into  his  very  blood  and  being.  He  is  conscientiously 
meddlesome,  and  religiously  officious." 

"What  can  have  deluded  him  into  this  high  opinion  of 
himself?  His  talents  are  moderate." 

"Money,  money,  and  the  flattery  money  brings,  have 
bewitched  him.  He  has  not  the  generosity  to  give  without 
the  hope  of  a  return,  but  always  sends  in  his  bill  for  special 
consideration,  personal  control  over  those  who  receive  the 
gift,  or  some  subtle  remuneration  of  the  kind,  which  he  deems 
an  ample  offset  for  his  money.  By  the  payment  of  my  tui- 
tion bills  for  a  few  years,  he  had  acquired  the  power,  in  his 
own  estimation,  to  forbid  my  temperance  efforts.  His  object 
was,  to  buy  me  up  as  one  of  his  runners.  He  has  hundreds 
and  thousands  whom  he  has  thus  bought  up.  He  has  given, 
as  he  calls  it,  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  making  these 
purchases.  Of  course,  it  has  swelled  his  little  personal  self 
unto  kingly  power.  He  is  an  enormous  social  fungus,  fed  by 
the  acrid  humors  of  a  diseased  and  feculent  public  sentiment. 
He  is  consulted  on  all  subjects.  This  further  swells  his  per- 
sonal consequence,  and  increases  the  evils  which  he  endures 
and  inflicts." 

"  After  all,  my  dear  Charles,  there  is  an  overruling  Provi- 
dence who  protects  the  innocent.  We  are  safe  in  his  hands. 


MOKE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW,       311 

Let  us  not  requite  with  evil  Mr.  Skampton's  efforts  for  the 
public  good." 

"That  is  well  said;  for  the  public  good.  If  the  truth 
were  known,  his  visit  here  would  be  found  the  result  of 
prayers  and  tears.  He  is  devout  in  his  way.  He  felt  him- 
self called  on  to  deprive  me  of  the  power  to  do  evil.  But,  as 
you  say,  God  will  be  the  judge  between  him  and  me.  I  leave 
my  cause  in  his  hands,  and  trust  he  will  bring  forth  my 
righteousness  as  the  light." 

"  There  is  no  danger,  Charles,  of  leaving  it  there." 

' c  My  heart  tells  me  it  is  true.  And  I  know  yours  is.  I 
do  not  doubt,  I  cannot  fear,  that  our  union  is  a  provision  of 
divine  wisdom,  and  will  be  brought  to  pass  by  parental  love." 

"Think  not,  Charles,  I  have  any  misgiving  on  that  point. 
No,  no ;  had  our  plighted  vows  never  before  been  exchanged, 
my  heart's  purest  feelings  would  dictate  them  now." 

"  Sarah,  dear,  as  you  say,  let  us  look  out  for  birds  of  pass- 
age. If  you  receive  fifty  letters  in  my  hand-writing,  con- 
taining things  inconsistent  with  these  vows,  you  may  know, 
before  Heaven,  that  they  are  vile  forgeries.  My  heart,  my 
hand,  sweet  girl,  could  never,  never  move  in  such  a  strain." 

"  Should  you,  Charles,  fail  to  hear  from  me,  or  should 
you  learn  things  of  me  to  give  you  pain,  then  know  that  all 
is  false,  and  that  I  have  your  interest  at  heart  more,  if  pos- 
sible, than  my  own.  Affection  gushes  up  from  the  hallowed 
fountains  of  my  soul,  to  assure  me  we  are  one." 

"0,  Sarah!  how  can  I  leave  you,  being  of  my  being? 
For  my  sake,  do  not  too  rudely  expose  yourself  to  the  even- 
ing dews,  in  your  walks.  I  have  suffered,  O,  how  much ! 
lest  a  cold  should  early  deprive  me  of  you,  by  consigning  you 
too  soon  to  your  mother's  hectic  death.  That  would  be  my 


312  MAPLETON;    OR, 

death;  my  life  would  lose' its  earthly  moorings,  and  I  should 
pray  to  be  gone." 

"I  will  take  care  of  myself.  I  would  live  for  your  sake. 
I  would  comfort  my  poor  father ;  though,  I  confess,  to  join 
my  sainted  mother  sometimes  appears  to  me  far  better." 

"  Halloo,  there,  sir !  are  you  the  man  who  has  ordered  my 
coach  ?"  cried  a  voice  before  the  house  to  Douglass,  about 
taking  his  leave  of  Sarah,  in  the  hall;  "come  on,  come  on  ! 
we  are  off;  the  cars  will  leave  you." 

'•'  One  kiss,  in  spite  of  this  savage  coachman,"  said  Charles, 
when  he  mounted  the  coach,  with  the  sweet  voice  of  her  he 
loved  so  much  pronouncing  in  his  ear,  "  Faith,  faith,  faith  is 
our  victory."  Tears  flowed  copiously  on  both  sides,  and  a 
sombre  feeling  settled  down  upon  their  spirits,  as  though  they 
might  meet  no  more  on  earth.  Charles  returned  to  his 
studies,  and  Sarah  to  the  even  tenor  of  her  charities  and  her 
duties;  with  this  understanding,  however, —  tbat,  on  the 
ensuing  September,  they  were  to  meet  again,  and  unite  their 
destinies  for  life. 

Mr.  Harcourt  seemed  moody  and  unhappy.  His  daugh- 
ter was  his  life.  He  saw  and  appreciated  her  worth.  But 
he  now  fully  believed,  from  the  representations  of  Mr.  Skamp- 
ton,  that  she  was  on  the  borders  of  ruin.  He  had,  till  now, 
hoped  against  hope ;  but  black  despair  had  succeeded  to  its 
place,  and  he  felt  compelled  to  adopt  measures  wholly  incon- 
sistent with  his  usual  frank  manner  of  treating  her.  Such 
measures,  so  far  as  he  had  already  adopted  them,  seemed  to 
create  the  necessity  for  more,  as  one  lie  requires  a  dozen  to 
cover  it.  His  heart  revolted  at  the  idea ;  it  was  more  than  he 
could  quietly  endure.  The  duplicity  of  his  flight  from  the 
plantation  was  torture  to  him;  and  how  could  he  survive 
something  far  worse  1  He  was  inclined  to  give  up  to  the 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAAV.  313 

plot,  and  let  things  take  their  course ;  but  then  he  would 
say  to  himself,  "  Mr.  Skampton  knows ;  niy  judgment  is  good 
for  nothing.  I  have  dwelt  upon  the  subject  till  I  am  addled 
and  confounded.  If  I  fail  of  breaking  up  this  unfortunate 
connection,  still,  when  her  ruin  comes,  it  will  be  a  consolation 
to  have  tried.  Persuasion  is  lost  upon  her.  Stratagem, 
stratagem  is  my  only  hope." 

Parents  who  entertain  doubts  as  to  the  delicate  attachment 
of  a  daughter  whom  they  tenderly  love  are  the  only  ones  to 
appreciate  the  feelings  of  the  anxious  and  suffering  Harcourt. 
His  bosom  was  the  home  of  torturing  sensations.  To  relieve 
himself,  he  drank  deeper  than  ever,  accompanying  his  daily 
bottle  of  wine  with  certain  trimmings  and  additions,  such  as  a 
mint-julep  before  dinner,  hot  punch  on  retiring  to  bed,  or  a 
cocktail  at  any  hour  when  the  fancy  took  him.  These  super- 
numeraries were  not  only  necessary  as  a  solace  for  trouble, 
but  to  meet  the  increasing  demands  of  the  alcoholic  worm 
within.  Still,  Harcourt  never  went  beyond  the  bounds  of 
genteel  drinking.  No  man  was  so  intolerant  as  he  of  the 
out-and-out  drunkard.  He  thought  even  a  prison  or  a  sty 
too  good  for  such  a  wretch. 

Harcourt  did  not  acknowledge  it  to  himself,  but  it  was 
nevertheless  true,  that  the  secret  hope  of  having  De  Lisle  for 
a  son-in-law  had  its  influence  with  him.  The  fact  of  that 
gentleman's,  great  Avealth  and  high  birth  excited  his  vanity 
and  inflamed  his  imagination.  Scarce  a  day  passed  without 
a  visit  from  De  Lisle, —  not,  as  Harcourt  supposed,  on  an 
errand  of  love,  but  of  religion.  He  could  not  appreciate 
such  a  motive,  but  attributed  it  to  the  overpowering  attrac- 
tions of  his  daughter,  to  which  no  one  was  more  sensible  than 
himself.  Hence,  he  entered  at  once  into  a  correspondence 
with  the  Marmots,  and  found  things  answer  to  his  expecta- 
27 


314  MAPLETON;   OR, 

tions.  He,  therefore,  arranged  for  the  contemplated  visit, 
though  he  was  still  in  doubt  as  to  the  most  feasible  mode  of 
breaking  the  subject  to  Sarah.  Thus  things  went  on  till 
May,  when  he  contrived  to  take  her  in  the  snare  in  a  way  to 
elude  suspicion,  and,  alas !  to  involve  himself  in  hopeless  woe. 
He  had  his  request,  but  leanness  came  into  his  soul.  To 
shun  one  evil,  he  encountered  nothing  but  evil. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

EXCURSION  TO  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  WYOMING. 

"  So  sweet  a  spot  of  earth,  you  might,  I  ween, 
Have  guessed  some  congregation  of  the  elves, 
To  sport  by  summer  beams,  had  shaped  it  for  themselves." 

CAMPBELL. 

RISING  one  morning  after  a  feverish  night,  the  father  of 
Sarah  hastened  to  her  room,  and  embraced  her  as  usual,  only 
with  greater  tenderness,  calling  her  by  every  epithet  of  en- 
dearment that  a  father's  fondness  could  suggest, —  my  love, 
my  darling, —  exclaiming,  "  My  adored  daughter,  what  could 
I  do  without  you  ?  ' ' 

"Dear  father,  what  could  I  do  without  you?"  replied 
Sarah,  kissing  him  tenderly. 

' '  This  is  a  sweet  morning,  Sarah.  How  soft  the  breezes  ! 
how  balmy  the  air !.  how  beautiful  the  flowers  !  how  joyous 
the  opening  leaves !  how  bland  the  aspect  of  nature !  how 
sweetly  your  Tiny  sings  !  And  what  do  you  think  I  have 
been  dreaming  of,  through  the  night'?  " 

"What,  dear  father?    I  cannot  imagine." 


MOKE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  315 

"  To  escape  from  our  prison  to  the  freedom  of  life  in  the 
country.  I  long  for  God's  groves,  and  not  man's ;  for  his 
flower-crowned  valleys  and  hills,  in  place  of  our  parterres  ; 
for  herds  of  kine  and  flocks  of  sheep ;  for  the  vernal  song  of 
birds  in  their  native  forests,  and  the  joyousness  of  a  rural 
landscape.  I  must  away  to  the  country;  and  will  you, 
Sarah,  go  with  me  ?  " 

"To  the  plantation?" 

' '  No,  to  the  sweet  valley  of  the  "Wyoming.  You  know 
how  often  you  have  desired  to  visit  that  region  of  poetry  and 
romance." 

Sarah,  running  over  in  her  mind  the  months  to  September, 
when  she  and  Charles  were  to  unite  their  destiny,  began, 
unconsciously,  to  count,  "  One,  two,  three,  four.  Yes, 
father,  I  will  spend  the  summer  with  you  in  the  country. 
When  will  you  go?  " 

"  To-morrow." 

"  No,  father,  not  to-morrow,  — that  is  too  soon, —  but  the 
next  day.  The  next  day  I  will  be  ready.  I  must  visit  the 
shops,  and  make  purchases  first." 

"Very  well, —  the  next  day." 

The  appointed  day  came;  and  Harcourt,  to  make  the 
journey  agreeable,  performed  it  in  his  own  carriage,  by  easy 
stages,  that  they  might  enjoy  at  their  leisure  the  country 
scenery.  Anticipating  his  speedy  separation  from  Sarah,  and 
the  painful  ordeal  through  which  she  had  to  pass,  his  heart 
yearned  over  her  with  all  the  fondness  of  a  father's  love.  He 
would  often  clasp  her  in  his  arms,  and  fondle  her  as  if  she 
were  but  six  years  old.  Sarah  had  no  suspicion  of  what  was 
working  in  his  mind,  such  outbursts  of  tenderness  being  no 
uncommon  thing  with  him.  On  the  day  which  terminated 
their  journey,  the  morning  was  unusually  fine.  They  took 


316  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

an  early  stage  to  enjoy  a  sunrise  among  the  mountains,  to 
sharpen  their  appetite  for  breakfast,  to  inhale  the  pure  ex- 
halations of  the  teeming  earth,  and  to  reach  a  certain  humble 
inn,  called  the  log  tavern,  situated  in  a  deep  ravine  by  a  leap- 
ing brook,  which  had  the  reputation  of  breakfasting  its  guests 
on  the  most  delicious  trout.  It  was  as  romantic  as  humble. 
Their  ride  was  among  hills  and  valleys,  and  a  delightful  com- 
bination of  scenery. 

"  0,  father,  what  a  beautiful  world !  "  exclaimed  Sarah. 
"  What  a  charming  landscape  !  how  checkered  with  hills  and 
valleys,  meadows  and  ploughed  fields,  bounding  flocks  and 
singing  birds  !  One  might  almost  mistake  it  for  Eden.  How 
sweet  the  odor !  how  fragrant  the  breezes  !  One  cannot  in- 
hale enough  of  such  air,"  she  added,  inflating  her  lungs  with 
the  ambrosial  zephyrs  that  played  around  them. 

"It  is  beautiful,  daughter,  beautiful, —  0,  how  beautiful ! 
Look  yonder,"  pointing  in  the  distance ;  "see  that  farm-yard 
filled  with  kine  !  How  eager  their  frisking  young  for  the 
morning  repast !  0,  how  superior  nature's  own  condiments 
to  those  of  our  preposterous  cookery  ! ' ' 

"  And  how  superior  the  drink  of  the  mountain-brook,  leap- 
ing and  sparkling  as  it  flows,  to  the  fermented  or  distilled 
poison  which  so  many  imbibe  to  their  ruin  !  "  added  Sarah, 
casting  a  tender  and  respectful  look  at  her  father. 

The  tears  came  to  his  eyes,  and  he  said,  sincerely,  no  doubt, 
"  Sarah,  you  think  me  an  incorrigible  wine-drinker,  and  I 
think  so,  too.  I  would  give  all  we  are  worth,  and  be  as  poor 
as  yonder  milk-maid,  had  I  never  tasted  a  drop.  I  never  had 
a  heart  to  confess  this  before ;  but  I  have  felt  it, —  felt  it,  0 
how  much !  I  cannot  give  it  up  now.  It  is  too  late.  I 
have  not  the  firmness  to  resist  a  habit  which  has  become 
second  nature.  I  am  perfectly  wretched  without  my  daily 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE   MAINE  LAAV.  317 

wine.  But,  if  I  had  a  thousand  tongues,  and  each  tongue 
were  as  eloquent  as  Demosthenes  or  Cicero,  I  could  not  with 
them  all  express  the  sense  I  feel  within" — laying  his  hand 
on  his  heart — "of  the  importance  to  young  men  of  never 
tasting  a  drop." 

"How,  then,  could  you  say  so  much,  dearest  father,  against 
the  temperance  pledge?  " 

"  Because  I  hate  cant, —  I  abhor  fanaticism,  of  which  it 
seems  to  me  the  offshoot.  I  am  speaking  of  avoiding  wine 
from  the  beginning,  as  an  impulse  of  nature,  and  not  of 
religious  excitement.  Much  as  I  abhor  drinking,  I  had 
rather  die  a  drunkard  than  be  a  fanatic." 

"  Dear  father,  you  certainly  err  in  this." 

"Can't  help  it, —  must  obey  mjr  destiny.  And  yet,  had 
it  been  my  destiny  to  be  one  of  those  plough-boys  who  never 
taste  strong  drink,  it  would  be  better  than  as  I  am.  Would 
you  not  like  to  be  one  of  those  milk -maids  who  follow  the 
calves  to  gather  the  gleanings?  " 

"  Alas,  father,  they  are  insensible  to  the  means  of  happi- 
ness within  their  reach  !  Perhaps  they  have  some  evil  habit 
which  they  have  not  the  firmness  to  correct." 

"It  is  true,  Sarah;  all  men  are  of  the  same  stuff.  Evil 
gains  residence  in  us  easier  than  it  is  ejected.  The  most  com- 
mon means  of  happiness  are  least  understood  and  least  enjoyed. 
Familiar  objects  pall  upon  the  mind,  and  produce  indifference. 
The  shepherd,  who  contemplates  daily  the  towering  magnifi- 
cence of  Mont  Blanc,  heeds  not  a  sight  which  we  go  thou- 
sands of  miles  to  behold.  Our  transient  glance  at  this  beau- 
tiful scene  affords  us  a  pleasure  which  these  milk-ntaids  can- 
not feel.  Who  knows  how  much  the  blindness  of  Homer 
and  Milton  may  have  enlivened  their  descriptions  of  light, 
color,  and  visible  scenery  ?  These  objects,  no  longer  able  to 
.  27* 


318  MAPLETON;  OR, 

satiate  and  fatigue  the  eye,  lived  in  their  minds  as  a  sweet 
vision  of  the  past,  in  hrjght  contrast  to  their  present  dark- 
ness, to  heighten  and  inflame  the  sense  of  their  beauty.  Who 
but  a  blind  man  could  write  Milton's  description  of  Satan's 
journey  through  Chaos  and  Ancient  Night,  towards  the 
nearest  coast  to  light  1  Or  who  but  a  blind  man  could  have 
conceived  of  morning  as  rosy  veiled,  rising  from  the  beds  of 
Tithonurs,  and  spreading  over  all  the  earth  ?  Passages  like 
these  indicate  a  mind  in  which  the  impressions  of  nature  had 
acquired  the  charm  of  a  delicious  recollection." 

' '  Did  not  Milton  borrow  from  Homer  ?  How  else  should 
the  coincidence  arise  of  his  morn  advancing  with  rosy  steps 
in  the  eastern  clime,  and  sowing  the  earth  with  orient 
pearl?" 

"  It  is  true,  the  scintillations  of  all  genius  and  learning 
blend  their  effulgence  in  Milton's  muse  ;  and  yet  he  is  as  art- 
less as  nature,  and  as  simple  as  a  child.  Herein  is  the  tri- 
umph of  his  genius.  That,  in  his  circumstances,  he  should 
have  been  as  poetical  as  Homer,  proves  the  greater  poet." 

"  Yet,  the  Scriptures  say  things  even  more  sublime  with 
less  apparent  effort.  'Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was 
light.' — 'Morning  spread  upon  the  mountains.' — '  Riding  on 
the  wings  of  the  wind.'  " 

Thus  beguiling  the  hours,  they  at  length  reached  the  place 
of  their  destination.  Mr.  Harcourt  had  informed  his  daugh- 
ter that  they  should  not  put  up  at  a  public  house,  but  seek 
the  more  quiet  retreat  of  a  private  family,  with  whom  he  had 
arranged  by  letter  for  their  reception. 

"Here  we  are  at  last,"  said  he,  as  they  drove  up  to  the 
door  of  the  Marmots. 

"What  an  Elysian!  —  a  perfect  Paradise!"  exclaimed 
Sarah. 


MOKE  WOKK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  319 

"Indeed  it  is,"  rejoined  her  father.  "It  exceeds  all  my 
expectations." 

In  a  moment  more,  the  door  of  the  coach  was  thrown  open 
by  a  liveried  servant,  who  ushered  them  into  the  great  hall 
of  the  house,  where  they  were  met  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mar- 
mot in  full  dress,  who  appeared  to  be  persons  of  fashion  and 
extreme  elegance  of  manners. 

"  You  have  been  long  delayed.  We  have  been  for  two  or 
three  days  awaiting  your  arrival,"  said  Mr.  Marmot. 

"  You  must  remember  we  are  not  on  a  tour  of  haste  and 
business,  but  of  health  and  recreation,"  replied  Mr.  Har- 
court.  "We  have  been  detained  by  the  fairies  among  your 
mountains." 

"Enchanting  beings  they  are,"  said  their  host;  "they 
exceed  fair  Tempe, 

'  Whose  lawns,  whose  glades,  ere  human  footsteps  yet 
Had  traced  an  entrance,  were  the  hallowed  haunts 
Of  sylvan  powers  immortal  ;  where  they  sate 
Oft  in  the  golden  age,  the  Nymphs  and  Fauns 
Beneath  some  arbor  branching  o'er  the  flood, 
And  leaning  round,  hung  on  the  instructive  lips 
Of  hoary  Pan,  or  o'er  some  open  dale 
Danced,  in  light  measure,  to  his  seven-fold  pipe, 
While  Zephyr's  wanton  hand  along  their  path 
Flung  flowers  of  painted  blossoms,  fertile  dews, 
And  one  perpetual  spring  ! '  " 

"Glorious!  enchanting!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Harcourt,  en- 
tranced by  the  quotation,  and  still  more  by  the  taste  and  feel- 
ing with  which  it  was  spoken,  and  the  signs  of  literary  talent 
in  the  man  to  whom  he  was  about  to  commit  so  important  a 
trust.  He  began  now  to  believe  all  Skampton  said  of  the 
magic  of  this  family.  Sarah  herself  felt,  in  all  she  saw  and 
heard,  the  charm  of  beauty,  love,  and  poetry.  Indeed,  the 


320  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

house  and  its  elaborately  cultivated  grounds  were  peculiarly 
suited  to  nourish  the  enchanting  illusion.  It  had  been  erected 
by  an  English  gentleman  of  great  wealth,  who,  attracted  to 
the  spot  by  Campbell's  "  Gertrude,"  had  selected  it  for  his 
home ;  but,  finding  the  realities  of  republican  life  a  sorry 
reflection  of  his  distant  dreams,  he  had  abandoned  it.  The 
most  of  his  servants,  attached  to  the  country  as  better  suited 
to  their  humbler  condition,  had  remained,  and  were  brought 
together  in  their  former  livery,  to  act  as  the  unconscious  sat- 
ellites and  abettors  of  this  nefarious  plot.  The  house  was  a 
perfect  nondescript,  a  truly  poetical  conception,  in  which  all 
the  orders  of  architecture  were  blended  into  one  unique  and 
harmonious  result.  Beautiful,  grand,  imposing,  picturesque, 
both  the  structure  itself  and  all  its  furniture  and  appendages 
were  formed  to  call  up  each  some  grateful  emotion  of  sense 
and  imagination, —  as  a  whole,  producing  in  the  mind  of  the 
beholder  a  mysterious  feeling  of  harmony  and  splendor. 

The  father  and  daughter  were  delighted  with  the  family,  of 
which,  besides  the  servants,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marmot  seemed  to 
be  the  sole  members.  Everything  had  the  air  of  ease  and 
freedom  which  belongs  to  persons  of  retired  fortune,  who 
have  nothing  in  hand  but  to  make  the  most  of  life  and  its 
enjoyments.  All  vied  with  each  other  to  increase  the  happi- 
ness of  their  guests.  A  choice  selection  of  books,  in  the 
room  of  both  Sarah  and  her  father,  with  elegant  gilt  bindings, 
and  ingeniously  suited  to  the  taste  of  each,  had  been  carefully 
provided  and  arranged.  This  further  proof  of  the  elevation 
of  the  family  made  Harcourt  insensible,  for  the  moment,  to 
the  secret  worm  which  had  gnawed  at  his  heart,  from  the  first 
day  of  Skampton's  visit,  leading  him  to  exclaim,  "  Skampton 
is  right, —  he  is  right !  Here,  if  anywhere,  my  sweet  Sarah 
will  forget  her  unfortunate  attachment." 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  321 

Poor  man !  —  how  little  did  he  suspect  the  mischief  which 
lurked  under  these  fair  appearances  !  How  little  did  he  mis- 
trust that  the  hand  of  Gilfort  was  in  all  this !  How  little 
did  he  anticipate  that  these  were  his  last  conscious  hours  with 
one  in  whom  his  existence  was  so  bound  up  !  How  fearful 
the  contiguity  of  bliss  and  woe  in  the  experience  of  mankind  ! 

A  careful  observer  might  have  detected  something  furtive 
and  strange  in  the  glances  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marmot.  These 
did  not  wholly  escape  Sarah's  notice ;  though,  from  her 
father's  assurances  that  he  had  been  well  advised  of  the  great 
excellence  of  the  family,  she  suppressed  every  rising  suspi- 
cion. Her  father's  forgetfulness  of  his  sorrows  was  but  mo- 
mentary. In  spite  of  himself,  beneath  the  air  of  gayety 
which  he  assumed  lay  concealed  the  most  agonized  feelings, 
that  he  should  be  compelled  to  this  clandestine  treatment  of 
Sarah,  whose  soul  was  in  her  words,  whose  heart  responded 
to  every  sentiment  she  uttered.  He  took  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity to  communicate  freely  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marmot  on 
the  subject. 

"  I  wish  you  to  understand  that  my  daughter  is  everything 
to  me,"  he  said  to  them.  "  In  intrusting  her  to  you,  I  put 
my  reason,  my  wealth,  my  life,  my  all,  in  your  hands." 

"  We  fully  appreciate  your  feelings,"  said  Mr.  Marmot. 

"  None  can  enter  into  them  as  we  do,"  added  his  wife, 
wiping  a  falling  tear,  "since  it  is  but  a  year  since  we  buried 
our  only  daughter  ;  a  charming  creature  she  was,  too." 

"Yes,  my  dear  wife,  and  do  you  not  think  our. lovely 
Blandina  was  strikingly  like  Miss  Harcourt?  "  said  her  hus- 
band. 

"  Indeed,  husband,  the  very  image  of  her,"  she  replied, 
sobbing  aloud.  "  I  have  hardly  been  able  to  restrain  my 
feelings  since  Miss  Harcourt's  arrival,  partly  of  grief  at  our 


322  MAPLETON;  OB, 

loss,  and  partly  of  gratitude  that  another  Blandina  is  sent  in 
her  place.  0,  I  shall  love  her  with  more  than  a  mother's 
fondness  !  " 

"  I  am  happy  to  find  hearts  so  fitted  to  give  my  sweet 
Sarah  place,"  said  Harcourt,  mingling  his  tears  with  theirs. 

"  Your  letters  inform  us  that  your  daughter  has  formed  an 
unhappy  attachment,"  said  Mr.  Marmot. 

"  Yes,  and  nothing  but  the  hope  of  breaking  it  up  could 
have  compelled  me  to  this  step.  Do  you  still  feel  confident 
of  being  able  to  intercept  further  communications  with  her 
deceiver?  " 

"  The  most  perfect,  sir,  and  of  making  her  most  happy  in 
the  arrangement,"  they  both  replied. 

"  In  the  latter,  I  fear,  you  will  be  mistaken.  My  daugh- 
ter will  no  doubt  be  uneasy  at  the  delay  of  letters.  I  fear 
she  will  instantly  resolve  on  following  me ;  and  I  have  this  to 
say,  that  if  every  other  means  of  .pacifying  her  fail,  you  must 
let  her  have  her  letters.  Remember  this  charge.  If  she 
must  perish,  let  it  be  by  her  own  hands,  not  mine." 

"  There  is  no  doubt,  Mr.  Harcourt,  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  keep  her  satisfied.  If  we  fail,  we  will  be  true  to  your 
charge,"  said  both  the  husband  and  wife. 

Having  settled  everything,  Harcourt  felt  that  he  must 
leave  before  a  letter  from  Douglass  would  be  expected,  lest 
his  presence  should  embarrass  the  plot.  He  therefore  an- 
nounced to  Sarah  that  he  had  just  received  intelligence  which 
made  it  indispensable  for  him  to  return  without  delay;  but 
that  he  would  be  absent  only  a  few  weeks,  before  he  would 
rejoin  her. 

"What!  leave  me  here  alone,  father?"  said  Sarah,  with 
great  surprise. 

"Yes;    leave  you,  my  love,  for  a  few  days  only.     You 


MOEE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  323 

cannot  fail  to  amuse  yourself,  meantime,  in  this  charming 
retreat.  There  are  many  renowned  locations  of  Indian  war- 
fare in  this  neighborhood,  so  graphically  described  by  Camp- 
bell, the  poet,  which  you  will  naturally  desire  to  visit,  and 
which  will  fill  up  the  time  to  my  return ;  and  then  we  will  go 
over  the  ground  in  company.  These  vexatious  business  calls. 
—  I  cannot  endure  them  just  now!  They  are  like  a  wind- 
mill in  Paradise ;  but  destiny  is  upon  me,  and  I  must  sub- 
mit." 

"  If  I  must  do  without  you,  my  honored  father,  I  will  try 
to  submit.  He  who  has  always  watched  over  my  happiness 
will  preserve  me  still.  What  His  providence  directs,  may 
that  be  my  choice  evermore  ! " 

Their  parting  was  in  the  highest  degree  tender  and  touch- 
ing. Three  times,  after  reaching  the  gate  in  front  of  the 
mansion,  he  returned  to  clasp  her  again  in  his  arms,  and  to 
imprint  the  burning  kisses  of  a  love  amounting  almost  to 
madness.  And  the  third  time  he  fairly  bore  her  sylph-like 
form  to  the  side  of  the  coach,  as  if  it  were  an  appendage  of 
his  own  person,  which  could  not  be  torn  away  without  a  fatal 
breach  upon  the  vital  organs.  At  length,  by  a  violent  effort, 
he  leaped  into  the  coach,  which  instantly  bounded  off  like 
lightning,  leaving  the  heart  of  both  father  and  daughter  pal- 
pitating under  the  rude  shock  upon  its  tenderest  sympathies. 

Before  a  week  had  elapsed,  Sarah  received,  a  letter  from 
Terracegreen,  in  the  handwriting  of  her  father,  to  inform  her 
that  a  suit  had  been  instituted  for  his  estate  in  that  quarter, 
under  pretext  of  a  prior  title,  and  he  had  been  compelled  to 
leave  the  city  instantly  to  defend  himself.  The  letter  went 
on  further  to  state  that  a  material  witness  in  the  case  had 
removed  to  Missouri,  and  he  saw  no  means  of  protecting  his 
property  without  going  in  person  to  look  him  up.  "And, 


324  MAPLETON;    OR, 

my  dear  Sarah,"  the  letter  went  on  to  say,  "is  there  no  way 
of  saving  me  the  pain  of  so  long  a  separation  frqm  you  1 
This  question  has  been  in  my  mind  ever  since  I  found  myself 
compelled  to  go,  and  I  now  write  to  suggest  that  you  go  also. 
I  know  you  have  long  wished  to  explore  the  prairies  of  that 
distant  and  extraordinary  country;  and,  in  complying  with 
this  request,  you  will  receive  to  yourself,  I  trust, —  certainly 
impart  to  your  doting  father, —  the  purest  delight." 

Sarah  was  not  much  discomposed  by  this  unexpected  prop- 
osition, because  all  the  arts  of  the  Marmots  were  put  in 
requisition  to  prepare  her  for  it.  Soon  after  the  departure 
of  her  father,  they  began  to  talk  to  her  of  a  delightful  resort 
they  had  at  Sylvan  Creek,  in  Missouri ;  of  the  pleasure  they 
found  in  dividing  their  time  between  that  and  Wyoming  ;  of 
the  gorgeousness  of  prairie  scenery,  and  of  its  pleasing  con- 
trast with  their  present  mountain  home ;  and  a  thousand 
enchanting  stories  were  added,  most  ingeniously  suited  to  win 
upon  the  fervid  imagination  of  Miss  Harcourt.  Just  before 
her  father's  letter  came  to  hand,  Mr.  Marmot  said  he  had 
received  intelligence  which  made  it  necessary  for  him  imme- 
diately to  visit  this  fairy  land.  Much  regret  was  expressed 
that  his  wife  and  Sarah  should  be  left  behind,  when  the  latter 
would  reply  by  saying  how  much  pleasure  she  should  feel  in 
seeing  the  prairies,  and  hoAv  sorry  she  was  she  had  not  ar- 
ranged with  her  father  to  do  so  this -summer,  and  then  they 
might  all  go  together. 

"  0,  my  dear,"  Marmot  would  say  to  his  wife,  "must  I 
leave  you  and  Miss  Harcourt  behind  ?  Will  you  not  both 
accompany  me?  It  will  be  so  delightful !  " 

"Yes,  Louis,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  "  Avrite  Mr.  Harcourt  on 
the  subject ;  and,  when  he  learns  Sarah's  wishes,  he  will  no 
doubt  join  us,  and  we  will  all  go  together." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  325 

That  evening  they  were  all  overwhelmed  with  delight  by 
receiving  Mr.  Harcourt's  letter,  proposing  to  take  Sarah  with 
him  to  Missouri.  Accordingly,  Sarah  answered  at  once, 
informing  her  father  of  Mr.  Marmot's  call  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, of  his  estate  on  Sylvan  Creek,  and  proposing  that  he 
should  go  on  immediately  and  do  his  business,  preparatory  to 
meeting  them  on  their  arrival  at  that  place.  In  due  course 
of  mail  another  letter  was  received  from  her  father,  agreeing 
to  the  arrangement,  and  saying  that  he  had  already  left,  and 
would  meet  her  in  a  few  weeks  at  Sylvan  Creek.  This  letter 
concluded  in  her  father's  own  peculiar  style  of  affection  and 
gallantry. 

"  I  never  knew  how  much  I  loved  you  till  this  separation. 
I  realize  it  much  more  than  in  your  school-day  absences. 
Then  I  had  not  known  you  as  a  companion, —  an  equal.  I 
parted  with  you  as  a  prattling  girl,  whose  absence,  though 
painful,  I  could  very  well  endure.  But  now  I  part  with  you 
as  a  companion, —  yea,  a  superior,  for  so  I  feel  you  to  be, 
as  being  the  living  embodying  of  one  whom  I  always  ac- 
counted better  than  myself.  My  only  solace  is  the  hope  of 
soon  folding  you  again  in  my  fond  embrace.  Adieu,  darling 
Sarah,  adieu,  cries  the  heart,  the  whole  being,  of  your  affec- 
tionate FATHER." 

Everything  was  now  arranged  for  their  immediate  depart- 
ure. But  no  letter  had  yet  been  received  from  Douglass. 
Sarah  protested  she  would  not  leave  till  one  came.  Soon 
after  this  determination  was  known,  a  letter  came,  in  which 
Charles  stated, — "  I  may  not  write  so  often  as  formerly, 
as  I  am  under  an  unusual  pressure  of  study.  But  our 
vows  involve  this  item,  you  know, —  that  no  writing,  and 
28 


826  MAPLETON;  OR, 

no  neglect  of  writing  shall  raise  in  our  minds  a  momentary 
suspicion  of  each  other's  entire  devotedness.  I  must  sub- 
scribe myself  yours  once,  yours  now,  and  yours  forever, 

"  CHARLES." 

Sarah  thought  this  singular,  as  he  had  always  protested 
that  writing  to  her  gave  him  more  time  and  efficiency  for 
every  other  duty.  But  this  allusion  to  the  private  under- 
standing between  them,  as  well  as  the  whole  aspect  of  the 
letter,  left  no  doubt  of  its  genuineness.  She  therefore  de- 
spatched an  answer  at  once,  to  inform  Douglass  of  her 
contemplated  tour,  and  where  he  should  address  her  when  the 
journey  to  the  far  West  was  begun. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

WAR  TO   THE   KNIFE. 

"  We  can  molest,  harass,  imprison  and  ruin  a  man  who  pretends  to  be 
wiser  than  his  betters  ;  and  the  more  unspotted  the  character  is,  the  more 
necessary  we  think  it  to  take  such  crushing  methods." — HOADLY. 

"  Shed  no  blood,  if  it  can  be  avoided  ;  but,  if  this  heretical  doctrine  lasts, 
shed  it  without  hesitation,  in  order  that  this  abominable  sect  may  disappear 
from  under  the  heaven." — HENRY  VIII. 

"THE  clock  strikes  twelve.  0,  sleep!  whither  art  thou 
flown  ?  How  my  nerves  twinge, —  they  dance  !  Pains  have 
their  gambols  in  this  body  of  mine.  Be  still,  ye  imps  of 
darkness  !  Three  nights  without  sleep !  0,  God !  I  am 
consumed  by  my  zeal  for  truth  and  justice.  Heavens !  what 
a  gig  my  pains  keep  up  !  Now  in  my  head,  now  in  my  heart, 
now  all  over.  They  throb,  they  jump,  they  dart,  like  light- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  327 

ning !  0,  mad — mad — mad!  I  shall  go  stark  mad  !  Tho 
disorders  of  this  ungoverned  and  ungovernable  age  allow  me 
no  rest.  The  care  of  ancient  right  against  modern  wrong 
devolves  upon  me.  I  must  resist  innovation ;  I  must  exorcise 
these  restless  spirits.  Would  that  I  had  crushed  this  Blud- 
geon viper  in  the  egg,  as  I  did  Douglass !  But  now  he 
is  grown,  and  it  costs  me  all  this.  0,  pain,  pain !  how  I 
ache!" 

Thus  soliloquized  Skampton  at  his  hotel,  within  the  limits 
of  a  metropolitan  church,  before  which  he  was,  the  next  day, 
to  arraign  Bludgeon  and  Bludgeonism  for  adjudication.  He 
rang  for  Sambo,  but  got  no  answer.  He  again  rang ;  and 
Sambo  entered,  in  dishabille. 

"  Sambo,  why  do  you  not  answer  my  call  at  once?  Will 
you  leave  me  to  die  alone?" 

"  Sambo  powerful  sleepy, —  sleep  like  'possum,"  said  the 
negro,  submissively. 

"  Would  to  God  I  had  your  faculty,  you  numskull !  " 

"  What '11  massa  have?" 

"  Here,  sleepy-head !  take  this  vial  and  go  to  the  apothecary 
and  get  an  ounce  of  laudanum." 

"What  for  does  massa  want  lodlum?"  said  the  servant, 
scratching  his  head  with  perplexity,  lest  his  master  might  have 
a  design  upon  his  own  life. 

"  What  is  that  to  you,  saucy  fellow  ?  Go,  and  do  as  I  tell 
you."  Sambo  scratched  his  head  in  confusion. 

At  that  instant  the  door-bell  rang  violently,  and  the  ser- 
vant hastened  to  the  door,  where  he  met  Saphead,  who 
was  breathing  heavily,  like  one  out  of  breath  from  running. 

"  Slave,  does  his  honor,  Mr.  Skampton,  lodge  here?  "  said 
Saphead. 

"  Him  have  tooth-ache,  massa;  him  tek  lodlum." 


328  MAPLETON;    OB, 

"I  did  n't  ask  how  he  was,  fool !  but  whether  he  is 
here." 

"  He  com'd  here  last  night,  and  now  he  send  Sambo  to 
'potecarj." 

"  I  say,  you  stupid  fellow,  is  he  here  now, — is  he  within?" 

"  Come  in,  come  in,  Mr.  Saphead,"  cried  Skampton,  who 
heard  the  noise  and  came  to  meet  his  visitor ;  "  that  nigger 
is  dumb  with  sleep." 

"I  thought  as  much,  your  honor;  how  are  you?"  said 
Saphead. 

"  The  better  for  your  coming.  Your  long  delay  has  almost 
driven  me  mad.  Sambo,  bring  me  the  vial,  and  go  call  up 
the  servants,  and  order  a  cup  of  tea  for  Mr.  Saphead." 

Sambo  changed  his  course  from  the  apothecary  to  the 
kitchen. 

"Which  of  all  the  powers  has  delayed  you  so  long,  my 
friend?" 

"The  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  sir,"  said  Saphead; 
"  he  has  stirred  up  such  a  commotion  in  the  elements,  there 
was  no  resisting  him.  Have  you  not  seen  the  flashing 
lightning,  and  heard  the  rattling  thunder  ?  0,  it  is  a  fearful 
night-!  But  I  've  driv'  through  thick  and  thin  to  meet  my 
engagement." 

"  Well,  how  beats  the  pulse  of  public  sentiment  ?  " 

"  Right,  your  honor  ;  never  healthier.  I  have  procured 
the  passage  of  pointed  resolutions  against  Bludgeon  and 
Bludgeonism  in  all  the  public  bodies,  from  Maine  to  Texas. 
Yes,  even  Maine  is  retching  fearfully,  and  will  soon  vomit 
up  this  detestable  law.  Temperance  men  themselves  gi's  in 
that  there  is  more  drinking  there  now  than  ever." 

"Good!  good!  glorious!"  said  Skampton,  brightening  up. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  329 

"  I  shall  sleep  now.     Your  coming,  my  good  friend,  is  better 
than  a  hundred  anodynes." 

I  have  said  that  Saphead  was  a  puff  of  Skampton,  and  this 
was  one  of  the  occasions  in  which  he  had  blown  the  windy 
nothing  over  the  breadth  of  the  land.  He  had  sent  him  to 
manufacture  public  sentiment  against  Bludgeon,  temperance 
innovations,  and  the  Maine  Law.  In  his  mission  Saphead 
thought  himself  triumphantly  successful,  because  all  the  anti- 
temperance  feeling  naturally  centered  in  him,  like  feculent 
humors  in  an  ulcer ;  and  he  made  the  common  mistake  of 
supposing  that  it  included  the  great  body  of  society.  With 
all  Saphead' s  ungrammatical  and  ridiculous  blunders,  still  his 
head  contained  enough  to  throw  around  him  a  blaze  of  glory 
in  a  fifteen  minutes'  speech,  especially  if  he  occupied  them  in 
figures,  and  parables,  and  quaint  sayings,  to  make  people 
laugh.  But,  like  many  others,  he  did  not  know  that  his 
strength  lay  in  saying  little ;  and,  hence,  if  time  was  allowed 
him,  he  was  sure  to  destroy  the  effect  of  his  eloquence  by 
saying  too  much.  In  the  tour  which  he  had  just  made,  he 
had  addressed  public  bodies  who  could  allow  him  only  about 
fifteen  minutes ;  and,  so  much  time  on  one  topic, —  Bludgeon- 
ism  in  its  various  connections, —  and,  of  course,  repeating 
the  same,  over  and  over  again,  from  day  to  day,  had  produced 
a  powerful  sensation.  The  object  was  to  prepare  the  de- 
nomination for  ecclesiastical  proscription  against  the  great 
movement-maker  and  all  his  innovations.  Skampton  and  his 
party  had  tried  the  law  and  failed,  and  now  their  only  asylum 
was  the  church.  They  managed  their  cause  ingeniously. 
They  did  not  appear  before  the  public  under  the  bald  aspect 
of  opposing  the  temperance  reform,  but  of  staying  the  plague 
of  doctrinal  and  practical  innovation  upon  their  venerable 
church  with  which  this  reform  had  allied  itself.  No  one  can 
28* 


330  MAPLETON;  OR, 

appreciate  the  strength  of  denominational  prejudice.  It  is 
an  unshorn  Samson  with  the  gates  of  Gaza  on  his  shoulders ; 
and  thousands  of  temperance  men  were  home  away  by  it,  to 
take  a  stand  against  a  cause  they  loved,  by  being  made  to 
believe  that  it  was  innovating  upon  their  cherished  religious 
opinions  and  ecclesiastical  usages.  South  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line,  also,  Saphead  managed  to  array  on  his  side  the 
whole  strength  of  the  present  exacerbated  pro-slavery  feeling. 
He  made  the  people  there  believe  that,  as  soon  as  this  giant 
innovation  had  emptied  the  contents  of  the  groggeries  into 
the  gutter,  it  would  continue  its  desolating  march  over  all  the 
sunny  South,  breaking  every  chain,  putting  knives  into  the 
hands  of  the  slaves  for  the  throats  of  their  masters,  and 
deluging  the  land  in  blood.  The  fears  of  minds  little  accus- 
tomed to  reason  are  easily  excited  against  everything  new  in 
legislation,  in  ecclesiastical  usage,  and  in  religious  opinion; 
and  hence  Saphead' s  popgun  was  quite  as  effective  as  verita- 
ble powder  and  lead.  He  could  make  a  noise,  and  that  was 
all  that  was  needed.  That  was  really  more  conclusive  with 
the  mass  of  mind  than  well-conducted  trains  of  reasoning. 

"  Hark  !  "  cried  Skampton,  after  a  moment's  pause i  "do 
I  not  hear  voices?" 

"Yes,"  said  Saphead;  "  there  are  persons  in  the  hall." 

"  It  must  be  Treadmill,  then ;  for  he,  too,  was  to  have  met 
me  here  last  evening." 

Sambo  now  ushered  in  Dr.  Treadmill. 

"  My  dear  Treadmill,  I  am  happy  to  see  you,  though  late." 

"  Late !  who  could  be  early,  such  a  night  as  this  ?  What ! 
you  here  too,  my  good  friend  Saphead?  " 

"  Yes,  I  here,  doctor,  and  from  the  midst  of  this  terrible 
storm,  too.  Not  all  Jove's  thunder  could  defeat  my  engage- 
ment with  his  honor.  There  's  too  much  at  stake." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       331 

"  Too  much  at  stake,"  repeated  Skampton,  anxiously. 
"Well,  Treadmill,  what 's  the  news?  Have  you  followed  up 
the  track  of  Bludgeon  ?  " 

"  Yes,  and  good  news,  too  !  " 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Dumble  ?  " 

"Yes,  your  honor,  and  he  says  he  has  been  thrown  out 
of  business,  and  kept  out,  too,  by  this  braying  ass;  and  he  '11 
tell  a  story  a  mile  long  to  our  church  against  him." 

' '  Good !  glorious !  how  many  witnesses  besides  shall  we 
have?" 

"  About  five  hundred,  I  think." 

"  Only  five  hundred  !     I  hoped  it  would  be  a  thousand." 

"  But  they  '11  make  up  in  mettle  what  they  lack  in  num- 
bers. I  have  one  hundred  rum-selling  deacons,  in  whom 
rum,  religion  and  the  deaconship,  unite  in  a  three-fold  cord, 
that  cannot  be  easily  broken." 

"Well,  have  you  seen  Judge  G  wimble,  Governor  Ground- 
sell,  Hon.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guboine,  Esquire  Tornant,  President 
Fooltop,  and  all  the  divines  and  civilians  of  whom  I  spoke  to 
you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  all;  and,  to  a  man,  they  say  the  law  is  unconstitu- 
tional; that  it  is  abridging  a  man's  natural  freedom  not  to 
allow  him  to  get  drunk,  and  a  violation  of  the  first  sentences 
in  that  great  charter  of  our  national  rights,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  which  says  that  '  all  men  were  born  free 
and  equal.'  And  they  ask,  confidently,  '  What  freedom  there 
is  to  a  man  who  cannot  drink,  when,  where,  and  as  much  as 
he  pleases  ?  '  You  can  rely  upon  their  voice,  their  vote,  and 
their  vouchers,  in  your  venerable  judicature." 

"Excellent!  my  heart  overflows  with  gratitude.  I  shall 
sleep  now.  Sambo,  get  my  bed  in  readiness,  my  good  fellow ; 
my  pains  are  quiet  without  laudanum.  I  have  had  a  suffer- 


332  MAPLETON;   OB, 

ing  time,  gentlemen,  as  you  may  imagine.  The  zeal  of  the 
Lord  consumes  me.  I  have  not  hands,  money  and  influence, 
enough  to  keep  down  these  wild  beasts  of  innovation.  They 
still  prowl  around  fearfully,  and  ever  and  anon  break  in  upon 
the  precious  enclosure  which  I  am  set  to  guard.  Sleep  has 
been  out  of  the  question  so  long  that  I  am  getting  used  to 
living  without  it." 

"  Men  that  serve  the  public  ought  not  to  sleep,"  said  Dr. 
Treadmill,  who,  after  much  vacillating,  to  save  his  bacon  in 
other  quarters,  had  finally  chosen  the  least  of  two  evils,  and 
gone  decidedly  against  Bludgeonism.  Skampton  had  em- 
ployed him  in  private,  as  he  had  Saphead  in  public.  All 
three  had  arranged  to  meet  at  this  place,  the  previous  even- 
ing, that  they  might  bring  their  labors  to  a  focal  point,  in 
their  assaults  upon  the  great  movement-maker  before  an 
ecclesiastical  tribunal.  Everything  having  turned  out  so 
much  better  than  Skampton  feared,  he  had  little  difficulty 
in  sleeping  soundly  the  rest  of  the  night. 

Excess  of  government  is  one  of  the  great  evils  of  life. 
Society  is  fingered  and  manipulated  till  it  has  come  to  be  like 
a  tree  pruned  to  its  death,  or  a  child  subjected  to  a  training 
so  purely  artificial  as  to  repress  the  forces  of  nature,  and 
bring  on  decay.  A  healthful  freedom  of  development  is  too 
little  known.  This  is  true  of  trade,  religion,  learning,  every- 
thing. Concatenated  opinions  in  the  form  of  a  creed,  guarded 
by  the  watch-dogs-  of  ignorance,  prejudice,  place,  position, 
veneration  for  antiqujty,  narrow-mindedness,  incapacity  to 
appreciate  the  march  of  reason  and  the  progress  of  the  hu- 
man intellect,  and  a  thousand  yelping  curs  from  their  dark 
and  obscene  kennels,  unite  their  force  to  keep  back  the  im- 
provements for  which  the  race  have  so  long  sighed,  but  sighed 
in  vain.  How  long  have  we  struggled  to  reach  our  present 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       333 

vantage-ground  of  legislation  against  the  liquor  traffic,  —  a 
traffic  which  has  entailed  more  woes  upon  mankind  than  all 
the  wars  which  have  desolated  the  earth !  The  throes  of 
ages  have  at  length  given  birth  to  what  we  call  freedom  in 
our  own  country, —  a  freedom  which,  alas  !  still  holds  three 
millions  of  men  as  chattels,  to  be  bought  and  sold  in  the  sham- 
bles !  Opinion  struggled  through  two  hundred  generations, 
in  the  midst  of  imprisonment,  confiscation,  fire  and  fagot,  to 
reach  its  present  partial  emancipation,  and  to  enjoy  the  sorry 
satisfaction  of  being  punished  with  nothing  worse  than  the 
loss  of  place,  the  blight  of  character,  and  the  bark  of  those 
who  cannot  bite  !  Nothing  but  chains  and  slavery,  to  keep 
back  the  march  of  mind,  is  gained  by  this  over-action  in  gov- 
ernment. An  honest,  high-minded  and  vigorous  judiciary, 
to  restrain  the  suicidal  passions,  is  the  great  desideratum. 
This,  backed  up  by  a  legislation  that  does  not  legalize  wrong, 
—  a  preventive  legislation  against  the  causes  of  crime,  and 
against  sacrificing  right  to  interest, —  will  gain  all  the  great 
purposes  of  society.  The  rest  must  be  left  to  the  innate 
energy  of  man.  He  will  work  out  for  himself  a  better  des- 
tiny than  these  perpetual  fingerers  and  manipulators  of  soci- 
ety will  work  out  for  him.  All  arbitrary  measures  fetter  the 
expansion  of  enterprise,  and  coerce  things  into  unnatural 
channels.  Except  as  directed  against  the  savage  passions  and 
the  crime-producing  occupations  and  agencies,  they  subtract 
from  the  world's  prosperity. 

But,  if  excess  of  government  is  an  evil,  what  shall  we  say 
of  over-action  in  private  influence  and  responsibility  ?  The 
physical  coercion  of  law  the  individual  has  to  supply  by 
raising  his  personal  influence  to  a  commanding  position.  The 
one  acts  through  a  posse  comitatus,  and  the  other  by  chi- 
canery and  contrivance.  "Egotism,"  says  Coleridge,  "con- 


334  MAPLETON ;    OK, 

sists  not  in  speaking  of  our  concerns  with  hearty  good-will, 
but  rather  in  requiring  that  the  feelings,  desires  and  opinions 
of  others,  should  be  brought  into  strict  conformity  to  our  own. 
Thus  the  man  of  seventy  who  scoffs  at  the  innocent  ambition 
of  the  boy,  or  the  elderly  lady  who  speaks  with  contempt  of 
love  tales,  are  egotists."  This  was  the  vice  of  Skampton. 
He  had  one  of  those  consciences  which  feels  the  pinch  of 
everybody's  sins  more  than  his  own,  and  especially  those  sins 
which  he  deemed  most  prejudicial  to  his  own  interests  and 
predilections.  Whatever  influences  sprang  up  and  prevailed 
without  his  sanction,  he  never  failed  to  regard  with  distrust ; 
and  how  much  more  so,  when  his  own  investments  and 
incomes  were  implicated !  He  knew,  he  felt,  that  he  and  his 
conservative  clique  were  by  common  consent  the  umpire  in 
settling  denominational  questions ;  and  he  took  advantage  of 
his  position  in  this  respect  to  coerce  the  body,  much  against 
the  will  of  a  numerical  majority,  into  proscriptive  measures 
in  reference  to  Bludgeon  and  the  temperance  movement.  The 
public  mind  in  his  church  was  drilled  to  the  feeling  that  what- 
ever Skampton  and  his  party,  as  reflected  from  Riverton  Sem- 
inary, decreed,  must  of  course  be  executed.  »'" 

But  Bludgeon  had  a  way  of  his  own.  He  cared  not  for 
the  favor  of  Skampton,  or  any  of  his  emissaries.  A  certain 
impulse  from  within  was  the  guide  and  measure  of  his  con- 
duct. The  difference  of  temperament  and  training  in  the 
two  men  was  too  strong  a  tendency  to  schism  for  any  denom- 
inational platform  to  restrain.  Bludgeon  was  not  only  an 
extreme  temperance  agitator,  but  he  went  for  reform  in  every- 
thing,—  in  opinion,  in  church  polity,  in  all  the  interests  of 
human  life.  He  believed  that  nothing  had  yet  been  done  or 
spoken  so  well  but  it  might  be  bettered.  Bludgeon  drew 
after  him  the  masses ;  but  Skampton  the  learning,  the  press, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       335 

the  aristocracy  of  wealth,  and  all  the  best  influences  in  the 
sect, —  that  is,  best  in  the  sense  of  the  world,  but  not  in  fact, 
—  for  the  masses  are  always  nearer  right  than  the  aristoc- 
racy. Reforms  begin  with  them,  and  reach  the  dignitaries 
only  when  they  can  keep  their  places  no  longer  without 
adopting  them.  For  some  years  this  natural  enemy  of 
Skampton  gave  him  no  concern.'  He  could  not  suppose  that 
the  Maple  ton  rowdy  would  come  to  much,  any  way.  ."  His 
brief  day  will  soon  be  over,  when  people  will  become  sick  of 
him,"  he  was  accustomed  to  say,  when  Bludgeon's  doings 
were  spoken  of  in  his  presence.  But,  so  far  otherwise  was 
the  fact,  that  Bludgeon  went  on  increasing,  till  all  the  world 
"wondered  after  him,"  and  the  influence  of  Skampton  and 
his  conservatists  was  becoming  to  him  like  the  green  withes 
to  Samson.  The  conservative  party,  with  its  leader,  felt 
itself  constrained,  therefore,  to  lay  heavy  hands  on  the  great 
movement-maker. 

"But  how  shall  I  proceed'?"  was  a  question  which  long 
agitated  Skampton's  mind.  He  finally  satisfied  himself  that 
his  first  step  was  to  destroy  Bludgeon's  character,  and  to 
have  him  proscribed  as  a  liar  and  slanderer.  Nor  did  he  lack 
materials  for  such  a  work.  No ;  few  men  exposed  weaker 
points  than  Bludgeon  did  to  his  enemies.  He  was  by  no 
means  careful  in  his  sayings  and, doings.  Skampton,  there- 
fore, prepared  his  charges  and  specifications  to  bring  before 
the  .judicial  tribunal  of  his  denomination.  To  this  end  he 
sent  Saphead  to  manufacture  public  sentiment  against  the 
common  enemy,  and  Treadmill  to  drill  to  service  the  persons 
who  were  to  constitute  his  court  and  his  witnesses.  Skamp- 
ton was  not  a  hasty  man  in  his  movements.  He  always  took 
time  to  do  well  Avhatever  he  did  at  all.  And  in  this  case  he 
had  been  for  years  occupied  in  bringing  together  the  material 


336  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

and  the  force  for  a  fatal  assault  upon  the  great  movement- 
maker.  The  arbiters  of  Bludgeon's  fate  were  finally  assem- 
bled. The  morning  dawned  beautifully  after  a  night  of 
storm,  and  four  hours'  sleep  had  restored  Skampton's  feel- 
ings to  a  tone  of  elasticity.  It  was  to  him  "the  sun  of 
Austerlitz."  When  he  appeared  in  assembly,  however,  his 
countenance  was  sallow,  his  eyes  sunken,  his  brow  cloudy, 
and  he  had  the  aspect  of  one  who  was  consuming  by  inward 
fire. 

In  taking  the  names  of  the  tribunal,  it  was  suggested  by 
one  of  the  scribes  whether  their  honorable  titles  should  be  ap- 
pended ;  whereupon  it  was  settled,  by  vote,  that  each  one 
should  have  the  benefit  of  all  his  titles,  that  their  decision 
might  have  the  greater  weight.  This  circumstance  led  to  an 
amusing  incident,  which,  though  trifling  in  itself,  must  not 
pass  unnoticed.  In  taking  the  names,  a  farmer-looking  man 
gave  his  name  as  Harry  Straight,  V.D.M.* 

"What  did  you  say,  sir?"  said  the  chairman,  with  some 
surprise. 

"  My  name  is  Harry  Straight,  V.D.M.,"  replied  the  man. 

"  The  chair  would  ask  the  member  what  he  means  by 
V.D.M.,  where  he  got  the  title,  and  what  object  he  has  in 
giving  it  on  this  floor  ?  " 

"The  meaning  of  V.5.M.?"  said  Mr.  Straight;  "I 
thought  all  the  world  understood  that.  It  means  Vermont 
Democratic  Minister." 

"  Vermont  Democratic  Minister ! "  exclaimed  the  chair, 
when  the  whole  audience  burst  into  a  roar  of  laughter. 

"  You  see,  Mr.  Chairman,"  said  Mr.  Skampton,  "that  the 
object  of  the  member  is  to  cast  contempt  upon  this  venerable 

*  Once  assumed  by  old  ministers,  meaning  with  them  Minister  of  the 
Word  of  God. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        337 

body.  I  think  his  conduct  merits  expulsion,  and  I  therefore 
move  that  he  be  expelled. 

"And  may  it  please  the  moderator,"  said  Mr.  Straight, 
"I  meant  no  offence.  I  ask  pardon,  if  I've  offended.  I 
observed  you  all  had  handles  to  your  names,  for  the  public  to 
take  hold  of,  and  I  would  not  be  out  of  fashion.  You  ask 
where  I  got  the  title.  I  get  it  from  the  fact,  sir;  I  am  from 
Vermont,  am  a  democrat,  and  a  minister,  which  makes  me 
a  Vermont  Democratic  Minister.  Have  I  not  as  good  a  right 
to  take  to  myself  a  title  which  expresses  the  truth,  as  others 
have  those  which  are  false?  You  have  on  this  floor  A.M.'s, 
who  are  masters  of  no  arts  except  those  of  folly  and  weak- 
ness; D.D.'s,  who  are  not  competent  to  teach  the  first  les- 
sons in  divinity ;  and  LL.D.'s,  who  are  ignorant  of  the  most 
familiar  laws  of  right  and  wrong.  And  now,  because  I  take 
a  title  which  expresses  the  truth,  you  have  me  up  for  expul- 
sion ! " 

"  Order !  order  !  "  cried  the  chair.  "  Gentlemen,  the  mo- 
tion is  on  the  expulsion  of  Mr.  Straight,  of  Vermont,  for 
contempt  of  this  honorable  body.  Are  you  ready  for  the 
question?  " 

"  Ready, —  give  us  the  question  !  "  cried  many  voices. 

"Yes,  turn  him  overboard  with  despatch,"  said  Skamp- 
ton,  who  felt  himself  personally  insulted  by  what  the  accused 
had  said  about  LL.D.'s,  a  title  which  had  lately  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  Diddington  College. 

"Those  who  are  for  expelling  Mr.  Straight  say  Ay," 
said  the  chair.  "Ay,  "cried  the  multitude,  with  stentorian 
lungs.  "Those  opposed  say  No."  "No"  was  faintly 
whispered  by  a  few  timid  ones,  whose  manner  seemed  to  ask 
pardon  for  presuming  so  far. 

So  the  chair  pronounced  Mr.  Straight  expelled  for  con- 
29 


338  MAPLETON ;     OE, 

tempt.  Many  felt  it  to  be  a  cruel  act,  for  they  saw  that 
Straight  had  assumed  the  title  in  the  simplicity  of  his  heart, 
so  as  to  be  in  fashion,  and  not  to  cast  contempt  on  any  one. 
Another  was  expelled  for  sympathizing  with  Bludgeon  in  his 
opposition  to  slavery, — a  subject  on  which  the  latter  had  prac- 
tised a  severity  bordering  on  cruelty.  This  was  necessary 
incense  to  the  Southern  members  of  the  ecclesiastical  court. 
Having  thus  expelled  democracy  and  abolitionism,  they  were 
prepared  for  business. 

The  way  finally  cleared,  Skampton  produced  his  charges 
and  specifications.  He  began  with  those  points  which  would 
render  the  accused  most  ridiculous  and  most  obnoxious  to  the 
religious  prejudices  of  the  court,  on  the  principle  of  all  similar 
persecutions,  which  is,  first  to  clothe  the  victim  in  the  skins 
of  wild  beasts  and  then  set  on  the  dogs.  When  an  errorist  is 
painted  as  criminal,  why  should  he  not  be  punished  as  such  ? 

The  first  charge  was,  that  Bludgeon  had  professed  himself 
able  to  teach  men  how  to  live  till  they  were  as  old  as  Methu- 
selah. And  it  is  true  he  had  gone  from  temperance  to 
dietetics,  and  prescribed  what  people  laughingly  call  saw-dust, 
or  certain  principles  of  eating  and  sleeping,  which,  duly  fol- 
lowed up,  he  said,  would  insure  a  man's  living  till  he  was  a 
hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  years  old.  And  it  is  pos- 
sible that,  in  the  heat  of  speaking,  he  might  have  measured 
the  life  of  his  disciples  by  that  of  the  oldest  of  the  patriarchs  ; 
for  Bludgeon  was  not  a  precise  man. 

The  next  charge  was,  that  of  denying  wine  in  the  Lord's 
Supper,  which  rendered  Bludgeon  especially  obnoxious  to  the 
prejudices  pf  his  sect ;  and  that  too  with  good  reason,  for  no 
man  of  common  sense  can  doubt  that  the  juice  of  the  grape 
is  essential  to  the  scriptural  administration  of  that  ordinance. 
The  third  charge  was  to  the  effect  that  the  wine  into  which 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  339 

our  Saviour  converted  water  was  the  ?mfer merited  juice  of 
the  grape,  in  which  the  accused  may  have  made  himself 
ridiculous,  but  certainly  not  criminal.  Still,  it  was  an  item 
to  prepare  the  way  for  worse  things  to  follow,  and  to  predis- 
pose the  court  to  the  conviction  that  so  illogical  and  unscrip- 
tural  a  reasoner  was  not  fit  to  be  tolerated  in  the  sect.  Until 
we  can  find  a  vial  of  that  veritable  wine  among  the  relics  of 
the  Catholic  church,  to  enable  us  to  test  its  quality,  this  must 
remain  an  apocryphal  question,  and  not  a  sufficient  ground 
for  condemning  the  temperance  cause,  or  its  over-zealous 
agitators. 

After  thus  arming  the  prejudices  of  the  court  against  the 
accused,  Skampton  proceeded  to  the  graver  charges  of  lying 
and  slander.  Under  the  first  there  were  at  least  a  hundred 
specifications,  of  which  the  three  lies  nailed  by  Pegan  in 
Bludgeon's  great  battle  were  the  head  and  front.  For  the 
convenience  of  reference,  they  were  called  lie  one,  two,  three ; 
or  the  hoarseness  lie,  the  four  hours'1  sleep  lie,  and  the 
money  lie.  This  was  parliamentary,  and  saved  words,  of 
which  there  was  a  deluge,  after  all.  The  slander  specifica- 
tions were  equally  numerous,  and  much  better  sustained  ;  for 
Bludgeon  Avas  a  most  unconscionable  man  in  dealing  with 
private  character.  The  prosecuting  document  displayed  great 
taqt  and  talent.  It  was  the  work  of  time,  and  set  off  the 
weak  points  of  a  weak  man  in  their  worst  light. 

After  reading  this  document,  witnesses  were  called  to  the 
number  of  hundreds,  and  days  were  consumed  on  the  several 
charges  and  specifications.  When  the  court  was  thoroughly 
wearied  out  and  bewildered,  the  happy  thought  at  length 
occurred,  to  ask  Bludgeon  whether  the  sayings  and  doings 
alleged  against  him  were  true. 

"  They  are,"  said  Bludgeon,   promptly.     "  I  said  what 


340  MAPLETON;  OR, 

they  affirm  about  my  hoarseness,  about  my  sleep,  about  my 
income,  about  Gilfort,  Skampton,  Pegan,  and  all  the  rest  of 
them ;  and  I  reaffirm  the  same  before  this  court.  It  was  all 
true,  and  I  defy  the  world  to  prove  it  false  !  " 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  prosecutor,  ''•  I  am  prepared  to 
show  that  all  these  things  are  false  and  slanderous." 

The  presiding  officer,  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  being 
detained  days  and  weeks  more  in  this  jungle  of  evidence, 
proposed  that  Skampton's  statements  be  admitted  as  set- 
tling the  morality  or  immorality  of  the  sayings  and  doings  in 
question.  "We  have  entire  confidence  in  the  honorable 
gentleman's  decisions  on  the  subject.  He  has  gone  fully  into 
the  details,  and  knows  more  about  them  and  their  character 
than  we  shall,  after  a  month's  investigation."  Whereupon 
the  question  was  put  and  carried,  that  Skampton  should  be 
umpire  in  the  case.  Singular  as  this  decision  may  appear, 
it  will  not  surprise  those  at  all  acquainted  with  ecclesiastical 
adjudication.  Our  courts  of  law  are  clumsy  modes  of  doing 
justice,  at  the  best,  with  all  the  light  of  statute  and  precedent ; 
but  what  shall  we  say  of  a  court  without  statute  or  precedent, 
in  which  everything  goes  by  influence  and  personal  predilec- 
tion? 

"  God  knows,"  said  Skampton,  rising  and  looking  the 
image  of  injured  justice,  "  how  much  I  have  labored  to  have 
justice  done  in  this  case,  and  to  save  his  bleeding  cause." 
He  then  touched  upon  the  slander  of  that  renowned  man, 
Samuel  Gilfort ;  of  that  accomplished  editor,  Peter  Pegan, 
and  others  ;  and  then  upon  the  injustice  done  upon  himself, 
who  had  ever  acted  conscientiously,  and  had  poured  out  his 
money  like  water  upon  the  interests  of  humanity.  "And 
now,  gentlemen,  to  be  charged  with  blood,  the  blood  of  Maple- 
ton  citizens,  the  blood  of  men  consumed  by  the  Kavntschatka 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       341 

whales,  and  blood  from  pole  to  pole  ;  0  !  gentlemen,  gentle- 
men !  "  exclaimed  Skampton,  beginning  to  weep,  being  ex- 
ceedingly nervous,  "  these  charges  are  more  than  human 
nature  can  bear  !  "  The  court  was  greatly  moved,  and  began 
to  weep  too,  looking  daggers  at  poor  Bludgeon. 

As  soon  as  the  prosecuting  party  resumed  his  seat,  Dr. 
Treadmill  arose  and  said,  he  had  "hoped  that  this  movement 
would  die  a  natural  death  long  ago,  and  thus  that  his  church 
would  be  saved  the  trouble  of  adjudicating  upon  it.  There  had 
been  a  prospect,"  he  added,  "  that  the  hoarseness  of  this  man 
Bludgeon  would  end  in  bronchitis,  and  bronchitis  in  silence, 
and  so  that  he  would  have  been  laid  aside  without  our  help. 
But.  since  neither  of  these  events  has  occurred,  I  take  it  we 
ought  to  do  what  Providence  has  neglected." 

Timothy  Bragg  followed,  saying  that  he  "had  probably 
been  the  greatest  movement-maker  in  the  country,  under  the 
old  temperance  pledge,  when  only  ardent  spirits  were  pro- 
scribed. But,  since  this  Bludgeon  had  come,  on  with  his  crew, 
to  berate  everything '  that  intoxicates,  even  to  the  juice  of 
the  grape  and  the  sparkling  product  of  malt  and  hops,  they 
had  taken  the  wind  out  of  his  sail,  and  he  felt  himself  cruelly 
neglected.  If  the  people  have  a  mind  to  be  fooled  out  of 
these  innocent,  healthful  and  necessary  beverages,  I  am  not 
the  man  to  go  with  them.  Hence,  I  give  my  voice  against 
the  accused." 

Gulliver  Saphead  now  rose,  with  great  pomp,  and  delivered 
himself  as  follows  :  —  "  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen, —  in 
giving  my  voice  in  this  case,  I  can  only  say  that  Bludgeon 
and  Bludgeonism  are  '  a  cake  not  turned.'  This  is  Bible, 
and  I  like  to  keep  to  that.  Whether  it  is  a  johnny-cake,  a 
hoe-cake,  or  a  no-cake, —  all  of  which  I  have  met  with  in  my 
travels, —  is  not  material  to  my  purpose.  It  is  an  7/nturned 
29* 


842  MAPLETON;  OB, 

cake,  and,  of  course,  burnt  on  one  side  and  raw  on  the  other. 
Now,  this  is  the  precise  character  of  this  man  and  his  move- 
ment. He  inflames  the  zeal  of  the  people  against  rum, 
which  I  take  to  be  a  good  creature,  as  well  as  wine  and  beer ; 
and  thus  he  has  got  them  into  the  way  of  pouring  it  into  the 
gutter.  This  is  extravagant.  It  is  coal  or  dough,  dough 
or  coal.  There  is  nothing  right  about  it.  If  he  were  content 
to  bake  himself  so  and  there  stop,  I  should  say  nothing ;  but 
he  is  baking  everybody  else  so,  too.  All  his  followers  are 
coal  or  dough,  dough  or  coal.  This  is  wrong.  Think  you  I 
would  pronounce  for  a  cake  which  is  all  dough  or  all  coal  1 
No  ;  my  verdict  is  Guilty." 

Thus,  prudential  considerations,  influence  and  prejudice, 
not  truth  and  evidence,  carried  the  day,  and  Bludgeon  and 
his  movement  were  compelled  to  walk  the  plank.  The  follow- 
ing notice  soon  after  appeared  in  Pegan's  paper,  headed 
"UNPARALLELED  CRIMES. —  This  fellow  Bludgeon  has  been 
found  guilty,  in  a  tribunal  of  his  church,  of  high  misdemean- 
ors, and  has  been  expelled.  Under  the  garb  of  reform,  he 
has  slandered  private  character,  has  waged  war  upon  our  law- 
ful and  necessary  occupations,  and,  to  gain  his  ends,  has 
practised  chicanery  and  lying  to  an  incredible  extent.  But  he 
is,  at  length,  exposed  and  put  down,  by  the  untiring  exertions 
of  that  true  friend  of  the  public,  the  Honorable  Michael 
Skampton,  LL.D.,  who  has  won  for  himself  immortal  re- 
nown." 


MOKE  WORK  FOE  THE  MAINE  LAW.       343 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

TO    THE  WESTWARD,    HO  !  —  THE   MISTAKE  DISCOVERED. 
"  Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way, 


Time's  noblest  offspring  is  the  last."    BBRKELY. 

"  I  've  wandered  east,  I  've  wandered  west, 

I  've  borne  a  weary  lot : 
But  in  my  wanderings,  far  or  near, 
Ye  never  were  forgot."     WILLIAM  MOTHEB.WELL. 

THE  growth  of  party  may  be  traced  to  three  causes: 
individual  peculiarities,  the  nature  of  the  times,  and  persecu- 
tion. The  first  is  the  seed,  the  second  the  soil,  and  the  third 
the  husbandman. 

Bludgeon's  intense  individuality  and  iron  will  were,  of 
themselves,  a  sufficient  partisan  nucleus.  A  portion  of 
society  were  as  sure  to  follow  such  a  mind  as  flocks  of  wild 
geese  their  noisy  leader.  Temperance  times  further  in- 
flamed the  schismatic  tendency.  The  excited  public  mind 
was  feeling  its  way  towards  new  light  on  the  subject  of  using 
and  legislating  in  reference  to  intoxicating  drinks,  and  was 
easily  led  into  ways  devious  and  strange.  A  richer  soil  could 
not  have  received  the  falling  seed  of  Bludgeonism ;  it  yielded 
a  thousand-fold. 

Still,  the  Skampton  persecution  did  most  of  all  to  ripen 
and  perfect  the  schismatic  fruit ;  and  when  it  was  ripe  ecclesi- 
astical excision  shook  the  tree,  and  scattered  the  seed  all 
abroad,  to  bring  forth  its  kind  without  stint  or  measure. 


344  MAPLETON;-  OR, 

This  act  relieved  the  movement  of  its  last  restraint,  and  let  it 
loose  upon  society,  to  work  out  its  own  destiny  in  its  own 
way.  Till  then,  Bludgeon  and  his  followers  had  respected 
their  denominational  platform,  and  could  not  adventure  upon 
measures  which  they  esteemed  decidedly  derogatory  to  it. 
But  now  he  stood  by  himself,  the  "  world  all  before  him,  and 
Providence  his  guide."  His  party  was,  henceforth,  his 
church,  and  his  own  wild  impulses  his  creed  and  his  ritual. 
The  temperance  movement  was  his  religion,  his  ethics,  his 
politics,  his  jurisprudence,  his  business,  and  the  sum  of  his 
being. 

Thus,  as  usual,  this  act  of  ecclesiastical  excision  im- 
measurably increased  the  evil  which  it  was  designed  to  cure. 
It  gave  Bludgeon  a  hold  upon  the  public  sympathies  far 
greater  than  ever,  and  made  him  a  much  more  formidable 
antagonist.  The  Skampton  conservative  party  could  have  done 
nothing  so  much  to  his  advantage,  and  so  destructive  to  their 
own  cause.  It  turned  over  to  him  a  numerical  majority  even 
of  their  own  church.  Skampton' s  purse  still  retained  with 
him  Diddington  College  and  Riverton  Seminary,  though,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  heart  and  sympathies  of  both  these  institu- 
tions were  with  Bludgeon.  Indeed,  there  was  no  soul  on  the 
Skampton  side,  for  it  had  all  evaporated,  or  gone  over  to  the 
other  party.  The  one  had  set  up  a  golden  idol  for  its  divinity, 
while  the  other  was  full  of  the  warm  blood  'and  gushing 
sympathies  of  actual  life. 

While  the  cause  of  temperance  gained  by  persecution, 
Bludgeon  was  unhappily  precipitated  to  still  greater  extremes. 
From  the  injuries  inflicted  upon  health  and  morals  by  alcohol, 
he  proceeded  to  those  of  gluttony  and  excess  of  every  kind, 
which  he  began  now  to  represent  as  equally  degrading  and 
demoralizing  with  intemperate  drinking.  Not  content  with 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       845 

the  simple  question  of  the  quantity  which  it  is  safe  for  us  to 
eat,  he  proceeded  to  that  of  the  quality ',  affirming  that  man  is 
a  herbivorous  animal, —  that  animal  food  is,  in  all  cases  and  in 
any  quantity,  injurious  to  his  health,  corrupting  to  his  moral 
feelings,  and  the  great  means  of  reducing  his  age  from  that 
of  the  antediluvian  patriarchs  to  the  present  narrow  span  of 
three-score  years  and  ten.  It  involves  cruelty  to  animals, 
which  are  annually  knocked  in  the  head,  or  barbarously 
butchered,  by  millions,  in  order  to  pamper  in  us  an  unnatural 
and  preposterous  appetite,  and  degrades  us  to  the  rank  of 
cats,  dogs,  wolves,  and  tigers.  His  descriptions  of  a  piece 
of  a  hog  or  an  ox,  all  reeking  with  blood  and  oil,  would  make 
an  audience  loathe  it  as  food,  and  not  a  few  would  go  away 
resolved  never  to  taste  it  again.  The  previous  process  of 
butchering  and  flaying,  in  all  its  disgusting  details,  of  animals 
innocent,  beautiful,  playful,  and  verging  towards  human  in- 
telligence, was  a  fruitful  theme  for  Bludgeon's  genius,  and  a 
means  of  touching  the  sympathies  of  an  audience  almost 
equal  to  the  murder  of  the  innocents  of  Bethlehem,  or  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Eve. 

Bludgeon  carried  his  views  to  such  an  extreme  as  to  lose 
the  sympathy  of  the  wise  and  discreet  among  his  temperance 
friends.  They  could  not  believe  that  his  system  of  dietetics 
would  realize  the  length  of  days  of  which  he  was  so  sanguine. 
True,  he  fenced  his  statements  round  with  various  modifica- 
tions. He  did  not  say  that  such  a  length  of  days  would  be 
realized  in  the  first  generation ;  but  only  that,  if  the  race 
would  rigidly  follow  up  his  system  for  a  century  or  two,  the 
causes  of  disease  and  death  would  gradually  disappear,  and 
the  time  might  come  when  its  life  would  be  as  enduring  as  in 
its  earlier  generations.  These  extravagances  of  the  man  and 
his  party  came  to  be  regarded  by  the  public  as  identical  with 


346  MAPLETON;  OR, 

the  temperance  cause,  to  the  no  small  damage  of  its  interests. 
It  was  thought  by  many  to  be  unscriptural  and  dangerous, 
also,  because  these  ultraists  deemed  it  necessary  to  their  suc- 
cess to  deny  the  use  of  wine  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  Many  of 
their  churches  actually  adopted  water  sweetened  with  molasses 
in  the  administration  of  that  ordinance.  This  was  a  just 
cause  of  offence  to  every  right-minded  man  in  the  country. 

The  consequence  was,  that  Bludgeon  found  himself  in 
danger  of  being  swept  away  by  the  reaction  of  his  extreme 
views,  to  prevent  which  he  determined  upon  emigrating,  with 
so  many  as  would  go  with  him,  to  a  land  where  he  might 
carry  out,  unmolested  and  unopposed,  his  peculiar  system  of 
dietetics.  Oregon  was  fixed  upon  as  the  theatre  of*  the  great 
experiment,  which  he  proposed  to  reach  by  the  overland  route. 
Upon:  this  enterprise  he  now  turned  all  his  force.  He 
travelled  from  place  to  place  like  a  flaming  meteor,  to  obtain 
enlistments  for  his  colonial  plan  of  dietetics  and  long  life.  In 
a  short  time  his  army  swelled  to  a  numerous  host,  who  dis- 
posed of  their  estates,  and  prepared  to  take  up  their  line  of 
march.  Still,  he  continued  his  lecturing,  to  increase  the  num- 
ber. His  paintings  of  man,  in  the  present  forms  of  society, 
with  habits  of  eating,  drinking,  dressing  and  sleeping,  to  re- 
duce his  life  to  little  more  than  that  of  a  goose,  were  graphic 
and  powerful.  He  made  the  people  feel  that  death  was  in 
their  habits,  and  life  only  in  an  escape  with  him  to  Oregon. 

As  a  place  of  rendezvous  for  his  gathering  forces  he  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  prairies  beyond  the  Mississippi,  to  which 
point  they  were  tending  from  all  quarters.  The  dietetic  faith 
of  all  was  absolute, — their  hopes  glowing.  Old  men  and 
maidens,  young  men  and  children,  rich  and  poor,  black  and 
white,  all  grades  and  varieties  of  human  society,  having  dis- 
posed of  their  effects  to  defray  the  expenses  of  their  journey, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  347 

were  now  on  their  way,  in  groups  of  tens,  fifties,  and  hun- 
dreds. Here  a  company  of  maiden  ladies, —  toothless,  totter- 
ing, shrivelled  and  blighted,  by  the  vain  endeavor  after  that 
boon  dearest  to  all  hearts,  the  privilege  of  loving  and  of  being 
loved, — dragged  their  weary  limbs  along,  with  a  fanatical  cer- 
tainty of  renewing  their  youth  in  the  Eden  of  their  destina- 
tion. Here  virgin  beauty  was  linked  with  wrinkled  deformity ; 
vigorous  manhood  with  tottering  age ;  idiotic  imbecility  with 
gifted  intellect ;  the  cultivated  with  the  uncultivated ;  all 
fused  like  metals  into  one  mass  by  the  dominant  fanaticism. 

Facts  like  these  are  eminently  significant.  They  show  how 
eagerly  the  heart  of  man  looks  and  longs  for  a  portion  better 
than  earth  has  to  afford.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Utopian 
ideas  of  another  location,  or  of  the  reorganization  of  society, 
should  beget  in  multitudes  the  desire  of  change.  They  forget 
that  the  evil  is  within,  and  must  defeat  the  purpose  of  change 
until  it  is  eradicated.  None  but  the  great  Nazarene  ever 
understood  where  to  begin  the  work  of  human  improvement. 
"  Ye  must  be  born  again  "  is  a  truth  which  lays  the  axe  at 
the  root  of  the  tree,  and  provides  to  eradicate  from  the  heart 
those  passions  which  generate  our  woes,  and  defeat  all  the 
ends  of  outward  reformation. 

Leaving  Bludgeon  and  his  party  to  pursue  their  fanatical 
journey,  we  will  now  turn  our  attention  to  Mr.  Harcourt. 
When  that  gentleman  left  Wyoming,  he  purposed  to  be  absent 
but  a  few  weeks,  that  he  might  watch  the  effect  of  his  plot 
upon  the  mind  of  his  daughter.  He  hoped,  against  hope, 
that  her  feelings  would  undergo  a  change,  and  the  magic 
influence  of  the  Marmots  would  set  her  heart  free  from  its 
entanglements  to  a  drunkard's  son.  He  felt  in  his  sober 
moments  that  there  was  no  reason  to  expect  it ;  but  still  the 
illusion  was  too  sweet  to  be  exchanged  for  reality.  There 


348  MAPLETON;  OB, 

were  people  who  could  do  in  this  way  what  he  could  not ; 
and,  from  the  character  given  the  Marmots,  on  such  excellent 
authority,  he  believed  they  were  of  the  number,  and  this  was 
his  only  light  on  the  subject.  He  had  enjoined  Sarah  to 
write  him  daily,  resolved,  if  her  letters  indicated  no  change, 
to  abandon  his  scheme,  be  the  consequences  what  they  might. 

But  no  letter  came.  He  watched  the  post-office  with 
nervous  anxiety,  day  by  day,  during  which  time  suspense 
produced  in  his  excited  imagination  its  usual  brood  of  dark 
forebodings  and  tormenting  fears.  If  anything  should  happen 
to  his  darling  child,  he  felt  that  he  never  could  forgive  him- 
self the  step  he  had  taken.  Indeed,  he  was  uneasy  at  the 
•deceit  which  he  had  already  practised  upon  one  so  frank,  so 
confiding,  so  loving  and  so  loved.  "  Sarah,  Sarah,  sweet 
Sarah !  my  darling,  my  life  !  I  am  undone  without  you !  " 
he  would  often  say  to  himself.  "  0  !  should  I  be  deceived  in 
the  persons  to  whom  I  have  intrusted  her, —  no,  no !  it  is 
impossible  !  —  but,  should  I  be  deceived,  what  a  monster  of  a 
father  will  she  have  reason  to  think  me !  Well,  though  I 
deceive,  I  love  her ;  yes, —  too  tenderly  to  be  happy  in  her 
absence.  My  head  reels,  my  reason  totters !  I  shall  go  mad, 
mad,  if  the  least  of  my  fears  were  realized !  " 

After  thus  being  literally  on  embers  for  two  weeks,  a  let- 
ter came,  apologizing  for  her  delay,  by  ascribing  it  to  the 
extreme  happiness  of  her  new  situation.  And  the  letter  sig- 
nificantly adds,  "  I  find  myself  undergoing  a  great  change  on 
other  subjects,  which  have  caused  you,  dear  father,  much 
anxiety.  I  have  not  heard  from  C.  D.  since  I  came  to  this 
place ;  and  am  becoming  more  and  more  careless  whether  I 
ever  hear  again." 

This  letter,  especially  the  last  sentence,  more"  than  com- 
pensated for  his  long  suspense.  And  he  waited  another  and 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  349 

another  week,  with  more  calmness  than  before,  but  still  not 
without  dark  surmises,  which  lingered  like  spectres  before  the 
vision  of  his  mind,  yet  fearing  to  visit  his  daughter,  lest  it 
should  prejudice  the  object  of  his  taking  her  to  Wyoming. 
At  length,  another  letter  came,  full  of  affection  for  him,  and 
deprecating  the  uneasiness  she  had  occasioned  him  by  her 
rash  purpose  of  connecting  herself  with  a  family  whose  vices 
rendered  them  so  unfit  for  the  society  of  the  pure  and  the 
good.  "  But,  thank  Heaven  !  I  have  learned  my  mistake  in 
season  to  escape  the  ruin  awaiting  me.  Dear  father,"  it  is 
warily  added,  "I  fear  the  effect  of  former  associations,  and, 
much  as  I  wish  to  see  you,  it  is  perhaps  advisable  that  you 
should  delay  your  visit  a  few  weeks."  This  letter,  confirmed 
by  the  private  correspondence  of  Mr.  Marmot,  gave  him  inex- 
pressible pleasure ;  and  he  acted  upon  the  suggestion  of 
delaying  his  visit.  Thus  the  deluded  man  was  baited  by  an 
occasional  letter  till  the  first  of  August.  His  mind,  mean- 
time, was  ill  at  ease,  and  his  use  of  the  bottle  was  more  deep 
and  dangerous.  Indeed,  his  blood  was  constantly  charged 
with  the  poison,  to  the  verge  of  intoxication,  which,  no  doubt, 
had  the  double  effect  of  making  him  the  easier  dupe  and  of 
precipitating  the  crisis  Avhich  ensued.  How  it  is  possible  for 
men,  with  an  earnest  love  of  life,  to  be  deluded  into  keeping 
their  blood  constantly  charged  with  an  inflammatory  ingredi- 
ent that  could  not  fail  immeasurably  to  increase  the  chances 
of  death,  in  the  event  of  accident  or  disease,  is  passing  strange. 
One  would  suppose  that  an  instinct  of  self-preservation  would 
deter  them  from  drinking,  if  nothing  else  ;  and  that  intemper- 
ance would  be  confined  to  those  who  have  no  motive  or  desire 
of  life. 

Douglass  was  also  as  much  perplexed  by  the  interruption 
of  letters  as  the  father  of  Sarah.     But  he  could  not  doubt, 
30 


350  MAPLETON;  OR, 

and  would  not  resign  himself  to  the  gloomy  suspicions  which 
would  ever  and  anon  glance  unbidden  across  the  horizon  of 
his  mind.  He  had  solemnly  promised  not  to  let  the  interrup- 
tion of  letters,  or  anything  else,  shake  his  confidence  in  her 
devoted  attachment.  But  vows  are  easier  made  than  kept. 
When  week  after  week  passed,  without  bringing  him  a  line 
from  her  pen,  his  nights  became  sleepless,  his  days  gloomy 
and  listless,  and  he  lost  all  command  of  himself. 

Finally,  a  letter  came  from  Sarah,  bearing  date,  as  usual, 
at  New  York.  But  still,  it  did  not  allay  his  fears,  though, 
in  point  of  fact,  it  approximated  her  usual  strain  of  corre- 
spondence. There  seemed  something  different  in  it,  however, 
—  something  strange ;  not  so  much  in  style  and  mechanical 
execution,  as  in  the  spirit  breathing  through  it.  It  seemed 
not  to  gush  up,  as  usual,  from  the  heart's  purest  affections, 
but  was  formal,  artificial,  constrained,  and,  even  in  its  affec- 
tionate touches,  it  failed  to  blend  in  with  his  sympathies.  He 
felt  more  uneasy  after  receiving  it  than  before,  and  abruptly 
left  for  New  York,  to  inquire  into  the  cause. 

When  he  arrived  at  Mr.  Harcourt's,  he  met  from  that  gen- 
tleman a  cool  reception ;  and  when  he  inquired  how  Sarah 
was,  and  whether  she  was  well,  the  laconic  reply  was, 

"  Well,  but  not  to  be  seen." 

"Not  to  be  seen,  Mr.  Harcourt !  You  are  not  in  ear- 
nest?" replied  Douglass,  perfectly  confounded,  and  hardly 
knowing  what  he  said. 

"Do  you  think  me  capable  of  deceiving,  sir?"  said  Har- 
court, still  more  coolly. 

"  By  no  means ;  I  only  meant  to  say  that  your  daughter 
might  justly  accuse  me  of  great  rudeness  and  treachery,  for 
me  to  come  here  and  return  without  seeing  her." 

"  I  have  the  means  of  knowing  that  it  would  be  her  great- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       351 

est  pleasure  never  to  see  you  again,"  said  the  deluded  Har- 
court, confident  of  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  and  anxious  to 
get  rid  of  his  unwelcome  visitor  as  soon  as  possible. 

"It  is  false!"  said  Douglass,  earnestly;  "I  know  it  is 
false!" 

"  Do  you  mean  to  give  me  the  lie?"  said  Harcourt,  in  the 
highest  degree  incensed. 

"  Certainly  not ;  I  only  meant  to  say  that  you  must  be 
mistaken ;  and,  as  evidence  that  I  have  reason  for  what  I  say, 
please  read  this,"  handing  him  his  last  letter  from  Sarah. 
Mr.  Harcourt  read  it. 

"  Somebody  has  served  you  a  trick,"  he  replied,  handing 
back  the  letter.  "My  daughter  has  not  been  in  this  place 
for  nearly  three  months,  and  that  letter  cannot  be  from  her." 

"Where  is  she,  then?"  inquired  Douglass,  in  blank  aston- 
ishment. 

"  That  is  a  secret  she  does  not  wish  me  to  reveal." 

"Sir,  you  are  cruel  to  me,  and  still  more  so  to  your 
daughter." 

"I  do  my  daughter  a  kindness.  She  has  learned  the 
character  of  your  family,  and  abhors  it  as  much  as  I  do." 

"  Yes ;  she  learned  it  from  me  on  the  very  day  you  intro- 
duced me  to  her.  I  have  nothing  to  conceal  from  her  or  any 
one  on  that  subject.  My  poor  father's  infirmity  presses  on 
my  heart  too  grievously  to  be  kept  a  secret." 

"  It  ought  to  have  deterred  you  from  presuming  so  far 
with  a  well-bred  lady.  But  she  is  cured,  and  that  is  enough," 
said  Harcourt,  turning  on  his  heel,  and  saying  to  a  servant  in 
waiting,  "Jim,  attend  this  man  to  the  door." 

"  For  the  love  your  daughter  bears  you,  I  would  not  stay 
to  give  you  pain,"  said  Douglass,  as  he  left  the  house. 

That  was  a  dreadful  moment  to  Charles  Douglass.      As  he 


352  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

walked  leisurely  from  the  house,  so  lately  the  witness  of  a 
bliss  unspeakable,  in  the  society  of  one  so  much  beloved  and 
adored,  but  now  lost,  forever  lost,  he  feared,  the  universe 
seemed  to  him  a  blank.  An  intense  summer  sun  flamed 
above ;  and,  instead  of  leaving  a  spot  so  endeared,  so  lovely 
in  its  memories,  even  in  the  gloom  now  resting  upon  it,  he 
buried  himself  in  shrubbery  overhanging  the  majestic  river, 
and  prayed  and  longed  there  to  end  an  agonized  life. 

"Tome,  me  miserable,  there  remains  no  solace  but  the 
dumb  silence  of  this  desolate  spot !  Here  I  would  die,  here 
be  buried,  here  resign  my  soul  to  that  higher  world,  where 
rest  can  alone  be  found !  Proscribed  without,  and  killed 
within,  what  solace  is  left  me,  this  side  the  grave?  No,  no ! 
let  me  go  !  let  me  go  !  " 

With  the  vain  hope  of  quenching  these  burning  sensations, 
or  provoking  a  fever,  to  absorb  them,  he  remained  all  night  in 
that  thicket,  stretched  upon  the  damp  earth,  with  feelings  of 
desolateness  and  horror  too  poignant  to  be  described,  too  vast 
to  be  conceived.  All  he  had  felt  during  his  first  days  in 
Forestdale,  at  the  idea  of  being  a  drunkard's  son,  now  returned 
upon  him  with  ten-fold  power.  Then  it  was  imaginary ;  now 
it  was  real :  then  it  was  a  mere  fear  of  ejectment  from  his 
proper  social  position ;  now  his  doom  was  sealed.  The  words 
of  Harcourt,  that,  knowing  his  father's  character,  he  "ought 
not  to  have  presumed  so  far  with  a  well-bred  lady,"  were  the 
more  tantalizing  for  being  a  reflection  of  the  precise  feelings 
with  which  his  first  delicate  sentiments  towards  Sarah  were 
associated.  He  thought,  himself,  it  was  presuming  too  far  in 
one  so  unfortunately  connected.  And  now,  to  have  the  truth 
brought  home  to  him  by  the  party  most  injured  by  that  pre- 
sumption,—  perhaps,  too,  —  a  dreadful  perhaps!  —  with  the 
sanction  of  that  dear  one  who  had  been  so  kind  as  to  make 


MOKE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  353 

his  drunken  father  no  barrier  to  her  heart  and  her  hand, — 
0,  those  were  ideas  too  tormenting  to  be  endured. 

"  Why  had  she  not  crushed  my  tender  sentiments  in  the 
bud  ?  Why  leave  them  to  grow,  till  they  had  absorbed  in 
themselves  my  whole  being?  Indulgent  Father,  take  the 
drunkard's  son  to  thyself!  Earth  has  no  place  for  him. 
Society  casts  him  out  as  a  polluted  thing.  Wilt  not  thou, 
0  Lord,  take  me  up?" 

But  words  fall  short  of  the  reality.  The  record  of  aspir- 
ing minds,  repressed  and  crushed  by  a  brutalized  and  degraded 
paternity,  is  known  only  to  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts. 

"  Go,  weep  as  I  have  wept, 

O'er  a  loved  father's  fall  ; 
See  every  promised  blessing  swept, 

Youth's  sweetness  turned  to  gall  ; 
Life's  fading  flowers  strewed  all  the  way 
That  brought  me  up  to  manhood's  day  !" 

0,  ye  who  tarry  long  at  the  wine,  think,  think  of  your 
children's  agony  over  your  fall !  Think  of  the  shame  in 
which  you  send  them  abroad  into  society  ! 

After  Mr.  Harcourt's  feelings  had  subsided,  he  began  to 
reflect  on  the  letter  which  Douglass  had  shown  him.  That 
it  was  his  daughter's  hand-writing  he  could  not  doubt.  The 
sentiments  also  seemed  much  the  same  as  if  her  affections 
were  unchanged.  What  could  he  think  ?  —  that  Sarah  had 
deceived  him,  or  Douglass  ?  He  thought  her  incapable  of 
either.  Or  was  it  the  trick  of  some  mischievous  person  ? 
If  so,  jnight  not  the  same  be  true  of  his  own  letters  from 
Wyoming?  This  idea  was  too  horrible  to  be  thought  of. 
Still,  he  was  full  of  strange  suspicions,  and  therefore  started, 
with  all  haste,  for  Wyoming.  Judge  of  the  wretched  man's 
30* 


354  MAPLETON;    OR, 

feelings,  when,  upon  driving  up  to  the  house  of  the  Marmots, 
in  a  state  of  maddening  excitement,  eager  to  have  his  fears 
disappointed,  and  his  hopes  realized,  to  find  it  an  empty 
shell,  with  grass  covering  the  walks,  swallows  brooding  in  the 
chimneys,  and  all  the  signs  of  utter,  hopeless  desolation  !  He 
ran  to  the  neighbors,  in  a  delirium  of  suspense,  to  learn  the 
fate  of  the  family ;  and  all  the  explanation  he  could  obtain 
was  that,  a  few  months  previous,  that  house  had  been  rented 
by  an  unknown  family,  who  had  furnished  it  with  great  ele- 
gance, and  then,  without  making  the  acquaintance  of  any 
one  in  the  neighborhood,  had  broken  up,  and  gone  to  parts 
unknown.  The  fellow  who  boxed  the  furniture  said  that  it  was 
labelled  to  a  southern  city, —  Charleston  or  New  Orleans, — 
he  could  not  remember  which,  though  he  believed  the  latter. 
Even  the  name  by  which  the  strange  family  had  been  known 
was  not  the  same  which  had  been  given  to  Mr.  Harcourt, —  a 
circumstance  which  greatly  increased  his  fears,  and  confirmed 
his  darkest  forebodings. 

The  poor  man  ran  about  for  a  few  hours  like  a  maniac, 
going  again  and  again  into  the  vacant  room  which  Sarah  had 
occupied,  calling  her  name  in  tones  of  plaintive  endearment, 
adding,  "  Gone,  gone !  0,  0,  forever  gone !  Fate,  fate, 
cruel  fate  !  why  did  I  bring  her  here  ?  Why  intrust  her  out 
of  my  sight?  Whither,  0  whither,  has  she  fled?  Fraud, 
violence,  has  done  this  !  My  darling  Sarah  could  never,  of 
her  own  free  will,  have  escaped  her  doting  father  !  No,  no  ! 
much  as  he  deserved  her  hatred,  she  would  love  him  still ! 
Sarah,  Sarah,  your  father  loves  you,  too, —  yes,  to  madness 
he  loves  you,  though  he  has  treated  you  thus  !  Forgive,  0, 
forgive  the  wrong !  "  Thus  soliloquized  the  distracted  father, 
in  tones  that  resounded  through  the  vacant  halls  and  rooms 
like  those  of  a  disturbed  ghost,  lost  in  a  maze  of  conflicting 


MORE    WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  355 

sensations,  when  a  hornet,  which  had  suspended  its  nest  to 
the  ceiling,  disturbed  by  his  presence,  stung  him  severely  just 
below  the  eye.  The  pain  brought  him  to  his  recollection. 
He  rushed  out ;  and,  while  occupied  in  mitigating  the  venom, 
reflection  returned,  and  it  occurred  to  him  that  the  Honorable 
Mr.  Skampton  was  the  only  one  who  was  really  responsible 
to  him  for  this  mysterious  disappearance  of  his  daughter. 
"  Mr.  Skampton  first  suggested  the  plan,  and  recommended 
the  Marmots  as  in  the  highest  degree  trustworthy.  He  is 
too  great  and  good  a  man  to  deceive  me,  and  an  explanation 
may  be  given  which  will  satisfy  me  that  all  has  been  done  in 
good  faith,  to  insure  an  object  dearest  to  my  heart, —  Sarah's 
release  from  her  infatuation." 

Without  a  moment's  rest,  therefore,  he  set  off  for  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Skampton.  His  anxiety  of  mind  robbed  him 
by  the  way  of  appetite  for  food,  but  not  for  drink.  His  pota- 
tions were  deeper  than  ever,  utterly  disqualifying  him  for 
rational  action,  under  the  trying  circumstances  in  which  he 
Avas  placed.  He  was  even  too  abstracted,  and  too  much  be- 
side himself  with  strong  drink,  to  shave,  change  his  linen,  or 
wash  himself.  Upon  meeting  Mr.  Skampton  in  his  library, 
therefore,  he  was  a  sight  to  look  upon.  His  locks  had  been 
suddenly  bleached,  through  the  intensity  of  his  emotions,  and 
his  eyes  were  protruding  and  wildly  staring.  Skampton  stood 
aghast  when  his  visitor  unceremoniously  rushed  into  the 
room,  and  could  scarcely  believe  his  own  eyes,  that  this 
should  be  the  gentlemanly  Mr.  Harcourt  whom  he  had  known 
in  his  better  days. 

"  My  daughter,  sir  !  I  come  to  demand  my  daughter  !  " 
said  Harcourt,  struggling  to  repress  his  emotions,  and  appear 
calm. 


356  MAPLETON;    OR, 

" Your  daughter ?"  replied  Skampton,  coolly;  "what  of 
your  daughter  1  Why  do  you  ask  me  ?  Am  I  her  keeper  ?" 

"  Yes,  you  are  her  keeper !  You  made  yourself  responsi- 
ble for  the  good  conduct  of  those  to  whom  I  committed  her." 

"  I  said,  Mr.  Harcourt,  what  I  honestly  thought, —  what  I 
had  reason  to  think,"  said  Skampton,  drawing  down  his  face 
to  more  than  its  usual  length  ;  "  and  I  have  no  responsibility 
in  the  case,  and  I  hope " 

"  You  are  a  liar  !  "  interrupted  the  nervous  Harcourt,  with 
an  oath.  "Did  you  not  instigate  her  separation  from  me'? 
Did  you  not  pledge  me  your  honor  that  she  should  be  well 
treated  ?  Did  you  not  laud  the  Marmots  to  the  skies  ?  Did 
you  not  say  she  would  be  as  safe  with  them  as  in  her  own 
father's  house?  You  knave! — you  hypocrite!"  seizing 
him  by  the  collar,  with  insane  violence,  and  hurling  him  to 
and  fro.  Skampton,  pale  with  fear,  said,  soothingly,  "  My 
dear  Mr.  Harcourt,  do  pacify  yourself !  Be  not  too  hasty  in 
condemning  an  innocent  man.  Pray,  what  has  happened? 
Was  not  your  daughter  well  treated  at  the  Marmots'?  " 

"No;  they  have  abducted  her,  and  you  know  it,  you 
scoundrel !  They  have  taken  her  to  parts  unknown,  and  you 
shall  answer  for  it !  "  replied  Karcourt,  still  clenching  him, 
and  shaking  him  violently. 

"  Stay,  stay,  my  good  friend,"  cried  Skampton,  beginning 
to  fear  that  his  end  had  come,  indeed. 

"I  will  not  stay,  you  perjured  villain!  I'll  let  off  the 
last  drop  of  your  life  's  blood,  that  I  will !  "  said  Harcourt, 
still  more  furious. 

"  But,  if  you  kill  me,  how  can  I  find  your  daughter?" 
said  Skampton,  trembling  in  every  limb,  and  anxious  to  re- 
lease himself  from  the  perilous  grasp  of  an  insane  man. 

"  I  release  you,  then,  for  the  sake  of  sweeter  revenge," 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  357 

said  Harcourt,  letting  go  of  him.  "  I  '11  prosecute  you  at 
the  law  for  conspiring  against  the  liberty  and  life  of  an  inno- 
cent person;  and,  failing  in  my  suit,  I  swear,  by  all  the 
powers  above,  I  will  shed  the  last  drop  of  your  blood  !  "  he 
added,  now  first  bethinking  that  Skampton  had  exposed  him- 
self to  this  mode  of  redress.  He  started  to  execute  his  threat. 

"  Stay,  Mr.  Harcourt,  for  God's  sake,  stay!  "  entreated 
the  terrified  Skampton.  "I  had  reason  to  think  the  Mar- 
mots trustworthy." 

"What  reason  had  you  to  think  it?  Have  you  known 
them  ?  Have  you  personally  assured  yourself  that  they  are 
worthy  to  be  trusted?"  inquired  Harcourt,  anxious  still  to 
find  a  clue  to  Sarah's  hiding-place. 

"  No,  not  personally.  I  never  saw  them,  but  I  had  the 
best  possible  character  of  them  from  that  distinguished  man, 
Samuel  Gilfort,  who  assured  me  that  they  would  cure  your 
daughter  of  her  love  affair." 

"Great  God!  is  Gilfort  your  author?  Gilfort  the  insti- 
gator of  this  plot!  "  exclaimed  Harcourt,  in  despair,  under- 
standing full  well  the  knavery  of  that  fellow,  and  his  evil 
designs  upon  his  daughter. 

"He  advised  it,"  replied  Skampton,  meekly. 

The  whole  now  glanced  before  the  mind  of  Mr.  Harcourt 
in  a  twinkling,  that  Sarah  had  been  decoyed  from  him  by 
stratagem,  and  had  been  now  three  months  in  the  power  of 
that  arch  deceiver.  It  was  too  much  for  his  shattered  reason. 
He  reeled,  staggered,  and  fell  senseless  to  the  floor. 


358  MAPLETON;   OR, 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

ANOTHER  TRAGEDY  IN  MAPLETON. 

"  I  looked  upon  the  righteous  man, 

And  all  our  earthly  trust ;          • 
Its  pleasure,  vanity  and  pride, 

Seemed  lighter  than  the  dust, 
Compared  with  his  eternal  gain, 
A  home  above  the  sky  !  "  —  Mas.  SIOOUBNEY. 

THERE  was  an  inkling  of  truth  in  the  surreptitious  letter 
of  Mr.  Harcourt  to  Sarah,  in  reference  to  a  law-suit  for  the 
recovery  of  the  Terracegreen  estate,  on  the  pretext  of  a  prior 
title.  Such  a  suit  had  really  heen  commenced,  and  Marldon 
had  gone  to  defend  the  rights  of  his  client.  In  doing  so,  he 
visited  Mapleton,  where  he  became  familiarly  acquainted  with 
the  senior  Douglass.  He  had  no  mistrust,  however,  that  the 
wife  of  his  new  friend  was  the  same  who  had  been  so  cava- 
lierly treated  in  his  presence,  a  few  years  previous.  But 
Mrs.  J)ouglass  knew  him  well,  and  did  all  in  her  power  to 
keep  her  husband  out  of  his  society,  though  to  no  purpose. 
He  was  now  so  totally  broken  down  as  to  have  as  little  power 
over  himself  as  his  wife  had  over  him.  The  reopening  of  the 
Skampton  groggery  had  revived  his  former  habits,  and  drunk- 
enness had  been  a  common  thing  with  him.  His  home  was  a 
scene  of  terror  and  desolation.  Still,  he  spent  his  sober 
hours,  as  usual,  in  looking  after  his  farm. 

.On  a  bright  summer  morning,  he  went  into  a  distant  field 
to  watch  over  his  hay-making,  where  he  was  soon  joined  by 
Marldon,  with  the  tempting  bait  of  a  bottle  of  superior  brandy. 
They  sat  down  on  the  green  grass  in  a  shady  place,  and  be- 


MORE   WORK   FOR  THE   MAINE  LAW.  359 

gan  their  maddening  potations.  Adjoining  the  field  where 
they  were,  fifty  acres  of  heavy  timbered  land  had  been  cut 
long  enough  before  to  become  dry  as  tinder.  The  heat  was 
intense;  and,  in  his  sober  moments,  Mr.  Douglass  would 
have  deemed  it  an  act  of  madness  to  fire  the  aggregated  masses 
of  brush,  leaves,  twigs  and  logs,  which  were  piled  up  on  all 
hands  over  the  burdened  soil.  But  now  the  idea  popped  into 
his  excited  brain ;  and,  with  flaming  torch  in  hand,  he  ran 
from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the  windy  side,  touching  with 
flame  the  combustible  mass.  In  a  short  time  the  whole  was  a 
sea  of  fire.  The  scene  beggars  description.  A  burning  city 
is  nothing  in  comparison,  because  nature  is  more  exuberant 
than  art,  and  all  its  growth  is  combustible  ;  while  that  of  art 
is,  to  a  great  extent,  impervious  to  the  fire.  Even  the  scarf- 
skin  covering  of  the  earth,  produced  by  ages  of  vegetable 
decay,  is  food  for  flame.  The  exploding  gases  of  the  wood 
made  the  welkin  ring,  as  with  the  small  arms  of  embattled 
legions.  The  mossy  rind  of  burning  logs,  twigs,  leaves,  chips, 
decayed  trees,  piles  of  brush  studding  the  ground  like  closely- 
compacted  stacks  of  hay,  and  an  infinite  collection  of  materi- 
als dry  as  tow,  all  vied  with  each  other  to  increase  the  gen- 
eral burning. 

Even  the  clouds  suspended  over  the  scene  boiled  like  a  cal- 
dron, and  added  their  reflected  radiance  like  the  arch  of  an 
oven,  to  give  the  heat  accumulated  force  and  destructive- 
ness.  At  first,  the  air  was  close,  and  the  wind  was  too  tardy 
to  ruffle  the  fiery  deluge ;  but  the  heat  was  compact  and 
condensed  as  in  a  furnace  over  the  burning  fallow,  cloud, 
vapor,  smoke,  flame,  alike  pent,  struggling,  agonized,  con- 
volved, like  fiends  in  the  lurid  fires  of  hell.  The  birds  flew 
through  the  burning  air,  chattering  with  fright,  or,  with 
seared  plumage,  falling  into  the  fiercer  heat  below.  The 


360  MAPLETON;  OR, 

quadrupeds,  sheltered  by  the  brush  and  logs,  or  burrowed  in 
the  ground,  ran  in  every  direction,  to  cover  themselves  in  the 
contiguous  woods.  But  it  was  a  vain  flight ;  for  the  wind 
had  now  set  up  a  stiff  breeze  from  the  lake,  to  waft  the  burn- 
ing atmosphere  into  the  leeward  forest,  which  was  soon  seared, 
and  prepared,  many  acres  around,  to  mingle  in  the  general 
conflagration.  The  leafy  surface  of  the  ground  flamed  up 
into  the  thicket  of  overhanging  leaves  and  branches,  now 
prepared  to  feel  the  dissolving  touch;  insomuch  that  the 
whole  vegetable  growth,  to  the  distance  of  more  than  a  hun- 
dred feet  above,  became  an  ocean  of  flame.  The  scene  was 
terribly  grand,  awfully  sublime  ! 

The  whole  neighborhood  was  now  in  commotion,  lest  the 
fire  should  reach  the  premises  of  Farmer  Bloodgood.  Voices 
were  heard  in  all  directions,  crying,  "  To  the  woods  !  to  the 
woods!  Bloodgood' s  premises  !  Bloodgood' s  premises  !-"  All 
hands  flew  to  the  woods,  and,  scraping  a  circumvallation  bare 
of  its  leaves,  they  awaited  •  the  raging  enemy.  lie  soon 
appeared,  rejoicing  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race,  spurning 
their  puny  barrier,  and  making  his  way,  with  fearful  strides, 
towards  the  point  of  dreaded  attack.  Bloodgood  was  exas- 
perated at  the  imprudence  of  his  neighbor  in  kindling  such  a 
fire  in  so  dry  a  time,  and  swore  vengeance  on  him,  and  the 
alcoholic  demon,  which,  he  believed,  had  instigated  the  deed. 
But  Marldon  enjoyed  the  fun  with  stoical  indifference. 

A  detachment  of  neighbors  —  men,  women  and  children  — 
hastened  to  the  scene ;  some  with  buckets  of  water,  others 
with  shovels,  to  smother  the  flame  by  means  of  earth,  while 
others  still,  with  naked  hands,  fell  to  the  work  of  removing 
fences,  and  depositing  the  rails  beyond  the  reach  of  danger. 
All  was  vain.  Everything  seemed  converted  into  powder,  to 
catch  flame  from  falling  sparks;  and  the  concave  heavens 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       361 

were  like  a  heated  furnace,  to  relax  every  muscle,  to  force 
sweat  from  the  steaming  blood,  to  extract  the  sap  of  Avood 
and  the  greenness  of  leaves,  and  even  to  involve  the  standing 
grass,  as  well  as  the  new-made  hay,  in  the  mighty  burning ! 
Nothing  could  have  saved  Bloodgood  but  the  timely  fall  of  a 
shower,  to  quench  the  fiery  element. 

It  was  now  three  o'clock  of  the  afternoon.  The  neighbors 
had  left  for  home,  all  except  a  few  to  stand  sentinel  against 
the  enemy.  Marldon,  with  his  bottle  and  his  victim,  had 
retired  to  a  shady  retreat,  to  complete  the  work  of  intoxica- 
tion. A  partial  quiet  was  restored,  with  an  occasional  out- 
burst of  fire,  to  keep  the  men  busy,  when  they  heard  the 
crash  of  a  falling  tree,  accompanied  by  cries  of  agony.  They 
ran  in  the  direction,  and  soon  heard,  from  a  thicket,  a  voice, 
saying,  "  0  !  0  !  my  God  !  how  this  body  writhes  in  pain  ! " 
It  was  Mr.  Littlefield,  who,  ever  prompt  to  guard  his  people 
against  danger  to  the  extent  of  his  power,  had  joined  his 
efforts  with  others,  to  arrest  the  fire.  Fatigued  by  exertion, 
he  had  crept  into  a  shady  place,  and  fallen  asleep ;  when  a 
tree  burnt  at  the  root,  where  it  was  partially  decayed,  fell, 
and  would  have  instantly  killed  him,  had  not  the  underbrush 
broken  its  force.  The  extent  of  his  injury  could  only  be  con- 
jectured by  the  extremity  of  his  agony. 

"0,  my  dear  young  friends  ! "  he  said  to  George  and  Sam- 
uel Douglass,  who  were  the  first  to  reach  him,  "  the  day  of 
my  release  is  come  !  Life  cannot  long  hold  out  under  what  I 
endure." 

"  Death  finds  you  prepared,  my  dear  pastor,"  said  George. 

' '  I  am  ready,  perfectly  ready.  I  long  for  my  rest.  0  ! 
agony  !  agony  !  agony ! "  said  the  suffering  man. 

"Sammy,  my  brother,"  said  George,  "will  you  not  go 
and  call  Mr.  Holliston,  while  we  watch  with  Mr.  Littlefield?" 
31 


362  MAPLETON;  OR, 

"  Yes ;  but  can  we  do  nothing  to  relieve  you  before  I  go, 
Mr.  Littlefield?  "  replied  Samuel,  much  affected  by  the  spec- 
tacle. 

"  No ;  you  can  do  nothing,  nor  can  Mr.  Holliston ;  still,  it 
would  give  me  pleasure  to  see  him,  and  also  my  wife  and 
children,  before  I  die.  Be  so  good  as  to  call  them  also." 

Samuel  went,  with  all  speed. 

"  Let  me  hold  your  head,  and  press  gently  against  your 
side,"  said  one  of  the  neighbors,  suiting  his  action  to  his 
words.  "  There ;  now  don't  you  feel  a  little  easier  1 " 

"  0,  no,  no !  you  are  very  kind,  but  it  is  all  in  vain.  My 
summons  has  come,  and  I  must  go." 

It  was  not  long  before  Samuel  returned,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  Holliston,  Mrs.  Littlefield,  and  her  three  children.  Mr. 
Holliston  bled  him,  but  it  gave  him  no  relief.  His  chest  was 
broken  in  on  one  side,  and  there  was  evidently  internal  bleed- 
ing. He  grew  deadly  pale,  and  felt  a  faintness  which  seemed 
the  precursor  of  speedy  dissolution. 

"  Just  in  time,  just  in  time,  my  poor  Mary,  to  see  your 
poor  husband  die  !  "  he  said,  as  his  wife  approached  him. 

"  No,  no, —  it  cannot  be  !  "  exclaimed  Mrs.  Littlefield,  sob- 
bing convulsively. 

"  Yes,  it  must.  God  so  orders.  Have  I  not  told  you, 
Mary,  that  I  should  go  soon  1  and  why  should  you  weep  ? 
Are  you  not  willing  that  I  should  go  home  ?  Have  we  not 
often  communed  of  that  sweet  home  ?  Have  we  not  talked 
of  the  bliss  we  should  there  enjoy,  when  our  troubles  are  all 
over,  and  our  tears  are  all  dried?" 

Mrs.  Littlefield,  having  given  vent  to  the  first  impulse  of 
woe,  now  reclined  in  silence  over  him,  while  the  warm  tears 
that  fell  upon  his  bosom  touchingly  bespoke  the  depth  of  her 
grief.  Overcome  by  her  emotions,  she  fell  into  a  swoon,  from 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE   LAW.  36S 

which  she  was  long  in  being  recovered.  Meantime,  the  chil- 
dren set  up  a  doleful  cry,  saying, 

"0,  papa,  do  not  leave  us  !  do  not  leave  us  !  It  will  kill 
mamma  !  Dear,  dear  papa !  will  you  leave  us?  "  while  they 
sobbed  as  if  they  would  break  their  hearts. 

"My  dearest  children,  I  will  not  leave  you  unless  God 
bids  me.  You  know  how  good  God  is.  He  would  not  bid 
me  come  to  him  unless  he  meant  in  some  other  way  to.  take 
care  of  you.  Are  you  not  willing  I  should  go,  when  God 
calls  me?" 

"  0,  no  !  no !  no  !  dear,  dear  papa  !  what  will  become  of 
us  when  you  are  dead?'1'  exclaimed  the  little  ones,  with  a 
fresh  outburst  of  agony. 

"God  will  take  care  of  you,  my  precious  children,"  said 
the  dying  father,  with  -emotions  too  big  for  utterance,  his  lips 
quivering,  his  tears  gushing  up  from  their  deepest  fountains ; 
and,  for  a  moment,  he  seemed  unmanned.  Indeed,  the  whole 
company  felt  the  scene  to  be  too  affecting  for  them  to  endure. 
They  would  have  carried  him  home ;  but  they  saw  that  he  was 
too  far  gone  to  admit  of  it.  Samuel  Douglass  did  make  an 
effort  to  raise  him  gently  in  his  arms,  to  try  the  effect ;  but  it 
gave  him  so  much  pain  that  he  was  compelled  to  desist. 
None  showed  such  a  tender,  active  interest  for  the  dying 
pastor,  and  his  sufferings,  as  this  young  man.  Well  he 
might ;  for  he  had  become  hopefully  pious  through  his  instru- 
mentality, and  an  ornament  of  the  church  over  which  he 
presided. 

Recovered,  at  length,  from  her  swoon,  Mrs.  Littlefield 
•pened  her  eyes,  and  turned  them  upon  her  husband,  with  a 
look  of  sweet  submission,  by  which  he  saw  that  her  agony 
had  passed,  and  her  faith  had  subdued  her  misgivings. 

"  Now,  my  Mary,"  he  said,  wiping  his  own   eyes  dry, 


364  MAPLETON:    OK, 

"you  are  yourself  again.  How  much  we  have  prayed  that 
we  may  honor  God  in  our  death  !  Can  we  doubt  that  he  will 
hear  us  ?  Come  to  my  side,  my  adored  wife !  Let  me  leave 
with  you  my  dying  advice." 

She  took  her  seat  by  him,  saying,  "  Speak,  my  precious 
husband  !  All  you  wish  shall  be  done." 

"In  reference  to  yourself,  Mary,  my  highest  wish  is,  that 
you  maintain  your  freedom  in  Christ.  Be  not  again  entan- 
gled in  the  yoke  of  bondage !  Remember  your  husband's 
experience  in  this  respect;  which  —  blessed  be  God  !  — is  my 
preparation  for  this  season  of  trial.  I  know  that  my  Redeemer 
liveth  !  I  know  that  if  this  earthly  house  of  my  tabernacle 
were  dissolved,  I  have  a  building  of  God,  eternal  in  the 
heavens  !  The  fear  of  death  cannot  bring  me  into  bondage  ! ' ' 

"  My  dear  husband,"  she  said,  gently  kissing  his  forehead, 
"  have  you  all  the  confidence,  at  this  dreadful  moment,  that 
you  anticipated  ?  Are  you  unmoved  by  these  trying  circum- 
stances of  your  death?" 

"Yes,  unmoved.  The  moment  consciousness  returned, 
after  receiving  my  death-wound,  I  found  my  heart  exulting 
in  God.  From  that  time,  0,  how  near  Jesus  seems !  I 
repose  in  his  arms  !  Never  before  had  I  such  a  sense  of  his 
presence  !  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil !  I  have  neither  doubt  nor  mis- 
giving !  Heaven  is  before  me  !  Its  portals  are  open  !  The 
beams  of  glory,  shining  through,  fall  direct  on  my  soul ! 
There  is  society,  there  is  love,  there  is  friendship ;  there  '  the 
saints  of  all  ages  in  harmony  meet.'  I  feel  already  its  peace 
and  its  joy  !  Be  this  your  consolation  :  you  have  shared  mfr 
bosom's  history.  You  know  what  glory  God  poured  upon 
me  twelve  years  ago, — glory  not  to  be  expressed  or  compre- 
hended !  You  know  our  poverty ;  what  disappointments 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  365 

came  over,  our  worldly  prospects,  and  what  trials  we  have 
endured  !  But,  amid  all,  a  sweet  stream  of  heavenly  conso- 
lation has  flowed  into  my  heart.  Sorrow  was  a  necessary 
ballast  to  a  bark  so  wafted  by  heavenly  gales.  I  have  no 
words  of  complaint,  but  all  of  gratitude,  all  of  praise !  The 
fulness  of  love  is  more  than  an  offset  for  all  possible  suffering. 
You,  my  dear  wife,  have  shared  my  sufferings  and  my  joys. 
My  dying  prayer  and  request  is,  that  you  maintain  the  begin- 
ning of  your  confidence  steadfast  unto  the  end.  Do  your 
utmost,  also,  to  transmit  the  same  inheritance  to  our  children, 
—  yea,  to  all  mankind.  Then  I  know  we  shall  soon  meet 
again." 

After  this  long  speech,  he  became  convulsed,  his  mind 
wandered,  and,  for  a  few  moments,  the  struggle  seemed  to  be 
over  with  him  forever.  But  he  revived,  and  began  to 
exclaim,  in  feeble  accents, 

"  Love  !  —  infinite  love  !  —  0,  what  a  theme  to  occupy  our 
eternity  !  Heaven  opens  !  I  stand  within  its  confines  !  Its 
bliss  floods  my  soul !  Its  beams  irradiate  the  dark  valley  ! 
Blessed  Jesus  !  come  !  come  !  0,  come  quickly,  and  take  me 
to  thyself!  " 

None  present  were  so  placid  as  himself  and  the  living  image 
of  his  piety,—  his  wife.  They  both  seemed  literally  to  stand 
in  the  open  gate  of  glory.  Her  piety  was  but  the  engrafting 
of  his  own.  She  had  caught  the  serene  life  of  his  faith,  and 
quiet  communion  with  God. 

"If  you  have  a  word  more,  speak,"  said  Mr.  Holliston, 
with  his  finger  on  his  pulse ;  "for  you  have  but  a  moment." 

Mrs.  Littlefield  now  calmly  seated  herself  under  his  head 
and  shoulders,  putting  her  arms  under  his,  and  clasping  his 
chest,  as  if  anxious  that  he  should  die  in  her  arms.  The 


366  MAPLETON;  OR, 

children  kneeled  on  either  side  of  their  dying  father.  He 
seemed  to  want  them  near  his  person. 

"Yes;  a  word  more  to  you,  my  tender  bahes,"  he  said, 
alluding  to  Mr.  Holliston's  remark.  "  James,  my  darling 
boy,  you  are  the  oldest,  and  I  expect  you  to  be  a  great  com- 
fort to  your  mother.  Be  obedient  to  her  in  all  things. 
Exert  yourself  to  keep  our  little  family  together  on  the  home- 
stead. Assist  your  mother  in  the  family  devotions.  Watch 
over  your  brother  and  sweet  little  sister;"  the  tears  again 
trembling  in  his  eye,  at  the  mention  of  his  little  daughter,  the 
youngest. 

"  I  will,  dear  papa  !  "  sobbed  James. 

Then,  turning  to  William,  the  youngest  son, —  a  fine, 
ruddy  boy, — he  said,  taking  him  affectionately  in  his  arms, 

"  William,  you  must  be  kind  to  your  mother." 

"0,  dear,  dear  papa!"  cried  the  child,  "I  want  to  die 
with  you !  I  must  die  with  you !  I  MUST  go  to  heaven 
when  you  do,  my  dear,  dear  papa  !  " 

"  My  precious  son,"  said  the  dying  man,  greatly  moved 
by  this  outburst  of  childish  feeling,  "you  have  God  for  your 
father,  and  you  must  be  willing  to  live  for  his  sake.  You 
must  read  your  Bible,  and  love  your  blessed  Saviour ;  and 
then  you  will  soon  be  with  papa  in  heaven." 

"  I  want  to  die  now,  I  must  die  now !  I  can't  live  any 
longer,  when  papa  is  gone  !  "  sobbed  the  child,  almost  frantic 
with  grief. 

"  Dear,  dear  William  !  you  must  do  as  God  wills,  not  as 
you  will.  He  wills  to  have  you  live,  to  do  good,  I  hope. 
Never  forget  what  your  dying  papa  said  to  you,  that  you 
must  be  good  and  love  God."  He  then  kissed  him  affection- 
ately, and  bade  him  adieu. 

Then  followed  the  embrace  of  little  Mary,  the  most  touch- 


MORE  WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE   LAW.  867 

ing  scene  of  all.  He  folded  her  in  his  arms,  pressed  her  to 
his  heart,  and  said,  lifting  his  sightless  eyes  towards  heaven, 
"  God  of  love,  this  child  I  leave  in  thy  keeping.  0,  preserve 
her  from  the  destroyer !  " 

From  kissing  his  daughter,  he  turned  to  leave  this  pledge 
of  love  on  the  lips  of  his  wife,  when,  with  that  kiss,  he 
breathed  out  his  life,  and  his  spirit  was  with  God- 

Mrs.  Douglass,  who  had  by  this  time  reached  the  scene  of 
conflict  and  of  triumph,  insisted  that  the  body  should  be  taken 
to  her  house  for  the  night,  as  the  sun  was  already  near  set- 
ting, and  Mrs.  Littlefield's  residence  was  more  distant.  This 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  the  dead  man,  with  his  living 
family,  reached  the  house  just  before  dark.  0,  what  a  scene ! 
What  a  day  of  alcoholic  doings  !  The  monster  had  already 
done  enough,  one  would  suppose,  in  the  death  of  the  pastor 
and  in  the  destructive  conflagration,  to  satisfy  his  rapacious 
demands  of  blood  and  ruin.  What  Moloch  ever  asked  more  1 
Alas !  no ;  the  work  had  just  begun.  Calamities  do  not  come 
alone,  especially  those  which  arise  from  so  prolific  a  cause. 
There  is  no  end,  no  limit,  to  the  woes  which  this  demon  of 
darkness  pours  out  upon  society.  Were  they  less,  we  might 
relax  our  demands  for  an  instant  discharge  of  his  maddening 
poisons  into  the  teeming  gutters. 

The  dead  body  of  the  pastor  had  scarcely  been  decently 
composed  to  rest  in  the  parlor,  before  Mrs.  Douglass,  having 
occasion  to  step  to  the  door,  was  met  by  her  husband,  with 
an  iron  wood  lever  in  his  hands.  He  came  stalking  towards 
her,  drawn  up  seemingly  a  foot  above  his  ordinary  height, 
scarcely  touching  the  ground  in  his  wild  consciousness  of 
power,  with  the  fire  and  fury  of  alcoholic  madness  flaming  in 
his  eye ;  and,  before  she  could  get  out  of  his  way,  he  struck 
at  her  head  a  furious  blow,  which  just  grazed  her,  tearing  out 


368  MAPLETON;  OR, 

a  large  tuft  of  hair  and  cleaving  off  a  portion  of  the  scalp 
with  it,  so  that  the  blood  trickled  down  on  her  shoulder. 

Samuel,  hearing  her  scream,  ran  to  the  door,  and,  unfortu- 
nately, was  so  occupied  with  his  mother's  bleeding  head,  that 
he  seemed  not  for  the  moment  conscious  of  the  dangerous 
weapon  in  his  father's  hands,  and  hence  received  from  it  a 
furious  blow  on  the  head,  which  felled  him  to  the  earth,  dead 
on  the  spot.  The  laboring  men  and  neighbors  who  were  in 
the  house  now  rushed  out,  when  they,  too,  were  met  by  the 
blows  of  the  insane  Douglass,  which,  however,  they  warded 
off,  and,  after  a  powerful  struggle,  succeeded  in  overcoming 
and  confining  him  in  a  strait-jacket,  which  was  always  kept 
in  readiness  for  the  purpose.  Such  a  scene  as  ensued 
no  pen  can  describe.  The  yells  of  the  alcoholic  maniac 
reechoed  from  the  contiguous  forest,  and  resounded  afar  over 
the  now  placid  surface  of  the  lake.  The  screams  of  a  sorrow- 
ing family  over  a  dead  son  and  brother,  the  yet  unstifled  sobs  of 
the  Littlefields  around  another  victim,  now  heightened  by  this 
new  calamity,  the  running  and  tumult  of  neighbors,  and  the 
bleeding  but  still  noble  form  of  Mrs.  Douglass,  who  stood 
sublimely  firm  and  placid  under  a  sorrow  already  a  hundred 
times  endured  in  anticipation, —  these,  these  were  the  dark 
lines  of  a  picture  of  which  rum's  doings  in  all  our  large 
cities  are  but  a  counterpart.  This  good  woman  felt  that  she 
had  done  all  to  protect  her  family  that  could  be  done,  under 
the  present  laws  of  her  state.  She  had  watched  over  her 
husband ;  she  had  done  what  she  could  to  keep  him  from  the 
licensed  hells ;  her  life  had  been  an  incessant  vigil  against 
the  gins  and  traps  which  legislation  had  strewn  in  her  path  ; 
she  had  entreated  and  besought  the  representatives  of  law 
not  to  deal  out  the  poison  to  her  husband  ;  she  had  guarded 
him  against  those  who  make  a  business  of  holding  the  cup 


MORE    WORK   FOR    THE   MAINE   LAW.  369 

to  their  neighbors'  lips  ;  she  had  watched  over  her  family, 
by  night  and  day;  she  had  commended  them  to  God  in  her 
prayers ;  and  now  that  one  had  fallen,  and  but  one,  after  so 
many  years  of  deadly  peril,  seemed  to  her  an  event  to  pro- 
voke gratitude  with  her  grief,  under  the  circumstances. 
There  was  a  moral  sublimity  in  the  virtues  which  she  now 
evinced.  She  soothed  her  mourning  family,  spoke  of  the 
easy  passage  their  dear  Sammy  had  had  to  his  home  above, 
how  much  less  he  had  suffered  than  their  beloved  pastor,  and 
how  much  occasion  they  had  for  gratitude  that  things  were  no 
worse. 

But  the  grief  of  poor  Douglass,  upon  learning  the  facts, 
was  undefined,  unknown,  boundless, —  utterly  beggaring  de- 
scriptive pen  or  pencil.  It  had  no  alleviations.  His  nature 
gave  way  under  it,  especially  as  law  now  came  in,  with  its 
penalties,  to  punish  what  it  had  taken  no  pains  to  prevent. 
He  was  remanded  to  prison,  to  be  tried  as  a  felon,  where  grief, 
mortification  and  confinement,  threw  him  into  a  consumption, 
to  release  him  from  a  state  of  society  in  which  he  was  mani- 
festly unfitted  to  live.  0  law  !  law  !  how  long  ere  thou  wilt 
cease  from  thy  bloody  work,  of  first  instigating  crime,  and 
then  hanging  the  criminal  1 


370  MAPLETON;    OB, 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

A  LEAP  FROM   THE   SUBLIME   TO   THE  RIDICULOUS. 

"  These  are  the  works  of  OUT  God,  whereby  he  would  admonish  the 
tyrants  of  this  earth  that  in  the  end  he  will  be  revenged  of  their  cruelty, 
what  strength  soever  they  make  in  the  contrary." — JOHN  KNOJC. 

THE  events  of  this  chapter  are  nearly  simultaneous  with 
those  of  the  former,  so  that  Charles  Douglass  had  left  the 
country  before  he  learned  the  calamity  which  had  befallen  his 
Mapleton  friends. 

We  ought,  ere  this,  to  have  apprized  the  reader  that  De 
Lisle  was,  besides  Skampton,  the  only  confidant  of  the  secret 
step  which  had  been  taken  with  Sarah.  Of  Mr.  Harcourt's 
motive,  in  intrusting  the  matter  to  him,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  he  wholly  mistook  the  character  and  views 
of  that  gentleman ;  for,  though  decorum  forbade  his  interfering 
in  the  matter,  he  looked  upon  it  with  regret  and  alarm.  He 
had  too  high  an  opinion  of  Miss  Harcourt's  discretion  to 
believe  any  such  a  measure  necessary,  and  too  much  confi- 
dence in  her  firmness  to  suppose  it  would  have  the  least 
effect  to  change  her  heart's  affections.  That  such  a  person  as 
he  deemed  her  —  so  discriminating,  so  pure,  so  superior  to 
time-serving  and  sinister  interests  —  should  honor  a  young 
gentleman  with  her  heart,  was  of  itself  sufficient  to  give  him 
an  exalted  estimate  of  his  character.  Hence,  he  was  not  a 
little  curious  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Douglass,  notwith- 
standing the  dubious  and  dishonorable  representations  of  him 
which  he  had  received  from  the  father  of  Sarah. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        371 

"  Happy,  thrice  happy  man,  to  have  the  keeping  of  a  heart 
so  beautiful,  so  noble  in  its  sentiments  !  "  he  would  say  to  him- 
self; and,  when  he  learned  from  Mr.  Harcourt  Sarah's 
change  of  feeling,  he  could  hardly  credit  it.  He  believed  her 
incapable  of  so  sudden  a  transition,  in  a  matter  so  delicate, 
so  sacred.  "  Miss  Harcourt,"  said  he,  "is  not  the  lady  to  love 
so  hastily,  so  injudiciously,  as  to  recall  to-morrow  the  commit- 
ment which  she  had  made  of  herself  yesterday."  So  great 
was  his  interest  in  her  character,  and  so  much  did  he  feel  the 
want  of  her  guidance  in  his  conscious  spiritual  blindness,  that 
a  dubious  and  painful  uncertainty  oppressed  him  as  to  his 
own  condition  and  the  issue  of  events. 

After  Charles  Douglass'  night  of  anguish  under  the  shady 
copse  of  Mr.  Harcourt's  grounds,  he  arose  and  wandered  he 
knew  not  whither.  Though  in  the  midst  of  living  multitudes, 
they  were  no  more  to  him  than  wilderness  trees.  He  was 
absorbed  in  his  own  intense  feelings.  Gloom  and  desolateness 
more  total  he  could  not  have  felt  in  the  heart  of  a  desert. 
Walking  to  and  fro,  he  made  bold  to  inquire  of  such  persons 
as  seemed  most  accessible  whether  they  knew  the  Harcourt 
family,  in  hopes  still  of  eliciting  information  as  to  the  place 
of  Sarah's  concealment.  It  was  some  alleviation  to  be  amid 
scenes  familiar  to  her,  and  even  to  pronounce  her  name  to 
those  with  whom  he  met.  At  length,  he  fell  in  with  a  family 
whose  poverty  had  commended  them  to  her  care,  whom  she 
had  visited  in  sickness  and  distress,  and  who  recollected  her 
as  their  angelic  benefactress. 

"0,  we  were  happy  when  that  sweet  lady  was  here,"  said 
the  good  woman.  "  But,  since  she  is  gone,  no  one  feels  for 
us.  My  man  has  had  a  fever.  Mary  is  in  decline,  poor  girl ! 
And  we  lack  the  bread  for  our  table.  0,  that  God  would 
send  us  that  sweet  angel  again,  to  sympathize  in  our  sorrows ! 


372  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

This,  sir,  is  a  cold,  cold  world !  "  added  the  poor  woman, 
beginning  to  weep. 

"Where  has  Miss  Harcourt  gone,  that  you  see  her  no 
more?"  inquired  Douglass. 

"We  cannot  tell,"  said  the  woman,  still  weeping;  "but 
they  say  as  how  she  has  a  lover  here  that  can." 

"A  lover!"  exclaimed  Douglass,  with  bitter  feeling. 
"  Pray  what  is  his  name?  " 

"It  is  the  great,  rich  Mr.  De  Lisle,  what  comes  to  the 
minister's  house." 

"What  minister?" 

"  The  king's  minister,  please  your  honor." 

"  Where  does  the  king's  minister  live  ?  " 

"  Yonder,  in  that  great  house  among  the  trees,"  said  the 
woman,  pointing  to  the  home  of  Julia. 

"  And  does  Mr.  Harcourt  desire  his  daughter  to  marry  the 
man  of  whom  you  speak  ?  "  said  Charles,  with  a  foolish  but 
very  natural  curiosity  to  elicit  the  gossip  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

"  Yes,  they  say  as  how  he  wants  it  very,  very  much,  but 
our  sweet  lady  will  not  have  him.  And  that 's  what  for  she 
is  gone  off.  0  !  0  !  when  will  the  dear  one  come  back 
again?" 

This  story  of  Sarah's  declining  the  attentions  of  De  Lisle, 
though  a  pure  fiction,  touched  a  congenial  cord  in  Douglass' 
heart ;  and,  giving  the  woman  money,  he  took  his  departure. 

He  now  called  on  De  Lisle,  hoping  still  to  obtain  the  inform- 
ation he  so  much  desired,  and  to  assure  himself  of  the  extent 
of  Sarah's  own  agency  in  her  mysterious  concealment.  The 
consequence  was  a  free  and  familiar  conversation  between  the 
two  gentlemen.  Douglass  expatiated  on  the  character  of  Mr. 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  373 

Skampton,  and  expressed  the  conviction  that  he  was  at  the 
bottom  of  what  had  happened. 

"  Very  likely,"  said  De  Lisle.  "  I  remember  to  have  met 
the  gentleman  of  whom  you  speak  at  Mr.  Harcourt's,  and  I 
confess  things  have  since  appeared  there  different  from  what 
they  were  before." 

"  No  doubt ;  he  came  for  no  other  object  but  to  traduce  me 
in  the  family.  Miss  Harcourt  was  much  perplexed  on  the 
subject,  and  particularly  at  the  subsequent  effect  upon  her 
father." 

"  I  have  observed  that  he  has  appeared  very  moody  of  late." 

"  And  yet,  if  he  has  deceived  his  daughter,"  said  Douglass, 
"  he  must  be  the  dupe  of  some  one  else ;  for  I  have  lately 
received  a  letter  from  Miss  Harcourt,  dated  and  post-marked 
*  in  this  place,  about  which  he  is  as  much  perplexed  as  I  am. 
And  now,  sir,  for  her  sake,  as  well  as  my  own,  if  you  have 
any  light  on  this  subject,  I  trust  you  will  not  withhold  it." 

"  For  her  sake  I  would  willingly  give  it,  if  I  were  not 
under  pledges  of  honor  which  make  it  impossible." 

"  I  cannot  ask  you  to  violate  your  pledges,  sir,"  said 
Douglass. 

"  Providence  will  direct  in  this  matter,"  said  De  Lisle. 
"  If  you  occupy  the  place  in  Miss- Harcourt's  affections  which 
I  have  reason  to  suppose,  Mr.  Douglass,  you  ought  to  be  a 
man  of  faith  in  Providence.  You  would  hardly  be  entitled  to 
your  good  fortune  without  it,  and  I  much  doubt  whether  you 
could  appreciate  your  treasure,  if  you  had  her." 

"  It  is  true,"  replied  Douglass,  inwardly  rebuking  his  own 
criminal  distrust  of  Providence. 

"  I  deem  you  a  man  to  be  envied,  even  in  your  present 
dismay.  To  have  such  a  heart  is  in  itself  the  greatest  of 
treasures,  and  the  surest  pledge  of  Heaven's  gracious  guard- 
32 


374  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

ianship  over  you.  Think  you  Miss  Harcourt's  prayers  will 
avail  nothing?" 

"  Alas  !  sir,  the  agony  of  my  loss  equals  the  value  of  the 
treasure,"  replied  Douglass,  with  feelings  little  prepared  to 
respond  to  this  just  reasoning.  How  hard  it  is  to  make  the 
heart  coincide  with  the  clearest  convictions  of  the  understand- 
ing ! 

"Hope,  Mr.  Douglass,  hope  ;  faith,  faith.  Is  it  possible  Miss 
Harcourt's  particular  friend  has  not  acquired  these  virtues  ?  " 

"  If  you  knew  the  man,  sir,  who  has  taken  it  upon  himself 
to  ruin  me,  you  would  better  understand  the  difficulty  of  faith's 
work  in  my  case." 

"  This  Skampton  must  be  a  masterpiece  in  his  line," 
replied  De  Lisle.  "  Is  he  a  cold-blooded  villain  ?  " 

"  0  no ;  the  most  conscientious  man  in  the  world.  But  a 
man  conscientiously  wicked  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than  one 
who  is  so  against  his  conscience." 

"  That  is  very  true,"  replied  De  Lisle.  "  I  would  help 
you,  Mr.  Douglass,  if  I  could.  I  cannot  forfeit  my  word,  to 
defeat  even  a  conscientious  mischief-maker.  I  sincerely  hope 
the  issue  may  be  favorable  to  the  happiness  of  all  concerned, 
and  I  will  do  all  I  can  in  honor  to  make  it  so.  Further  than 
this  I  cannot  speak." 

Douglass'  depression  of  spirits  increased  more  and  more, 
daily,  till  he  was  disqualified  for  availing  himself  of  the  means 
for  gaining  his  object  which  were  within  his  reach.  The 
condition  of  his  own  family,  and  the  apprehensions  which 
haunted  him  in  reference  to  his  father's  alcoholic  madness, 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  bear  up  against  this  new  assault 
upon  his  peace.  He  had  not  yet  heard  of  the  dreadful  catas- 
trophe ;  but  there  was  enough  besides  to  overwhelm  him,  and, 
in  a  fit  of  desperation,  he  abruptly  embarked  for  England. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       375 

To  this  he  was  impelled  by  the  vain  hope  of  diverting  his 
feelings  from  their  fixed  channel,  and  of  casting  an  oblivion 
upon  the  past.  But,  "what  exile  from  himself  can  flee?" 
Who  can  escape  "  the  demon  thought"  ?  Can  a  change  of 
place  make  an  existence  endurable  which  we  cannot  enjoy  ? 
The  confusion  of  a  mind,  which  had  lost  the  power  to  rally 
and  concentrate  its  own  energies,  had  more  to  do  with  his 
conduct,  at  that  period,  than  those  impulses  which  are  capable 
of  being  analyzed  and  reduced  to  the  consistency  of  an  intelli- 
gent motive.  The  image  of  Sarah  had  so  long  filled  his  mind, 
that  its  removal  disturbed  the  whole  internal  machinery, 
insomuch  that  the  sense  to  see  the  objects  imprinted  upon  the 
eye,  to  hear  sounds  that  assafled  the  ear,  or  to  heed  the 
sensible  scene  around  him,  however  imposing  or  magnificent, 
was  gone.  His  foreign  travels  were  little  better  than  a  blank, 
for  lack  of  a  place  to  assign  them  in  his  mind. 

From  the  information  imparted  by  Douglass,  De  Lisle  be- 
came more  and  more  satisfied  of  foul  play  somewhere.  He 
strongly  suspected  that  Mr.  Har court  was  the  *  dupe  of 
Skampton,  whose  character  he  utterly  detested.  He  saw 
that  Douglass,  though  a  crushed  spirit,  was  replete  with 
generous  and  noble  impulses,  that  his  views  of  men  and  things 
were  liberal  and  enlarged,  and  he  believed  him  to  be  the  vic- 
tim of  impertinence  and  cruelty.  Hence,  he  went  directly  to 
Mr.  Harcourt's,  where  he  learned  that  that  gentleman  had 
left,  a  day  or  two  previous,  without  letting  a  member  of  the 
family  know  where  he  was  going,  or  when  he  would  return. 
He  found  John,  the  old  and  tried  servant,  in  doubt  and  con- 
sternation about  the  fate  of  his  young  mistress,  whom  he  loved 
as  he  did  his  own  soul.  John  expressed  himself  confident 
that  Jim,  who  had  more  recently  come  into  the  family,  was 
in  possession  of  facts  that  would  unravel  the  whole  mystery. 


376  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

He  said  Jim  was  often  giving  hints  that  their  young  mistress 
would  not  return  the  smiling  girl  she  was  when  she  left  home ; 
that,  if  she  got  back  at  all,  she  might  think  herself  well  off; 
that,  if  she  would  only  submit  to  the  great  one  who  had  her 
in  charge,  she  might  become  a  mighty  queen  yet,  and  much 
more  to  the  same  effect. 

Upon  being  questioned  on  the  subject,  however,  Jim  pro- 
tested that  he  was  merely  joking,  and  that  he  knew  nothing. 
But  this  did  not  satisfy  De  Lisle,  who  saw,  from  his  sinister 
appearance,  what  kind  of  arguments  would  be  likely  to  have 
most  weight  with  him,  and  therefore  exposed  to  view  a  purse 
of  gold,  saying :  "  The  honest  truth  on  this  subject,  Jim, 
will  be  worth  to  me  all  that,  and  more.  If  you  can  give  it, 
now  is  the  time  to  benefit  yourself." 

Jim  felt  the  attraction  more  strongly  than  anything  Gilfort 
had  ever  offered,  inasmuch  as  the  sum  was  greater.  Without 
hesitation,  therefore,  he  answered,  "I  cannot  longer  conceal 
the  truth.  My  conscience  won't  let  me.  My  feeling  for  this 
family,  which  is  very  kind,  won't  let  me." 

"  Well,  Jim,  who  is  the  principal  actor  in  Miss  Harcourt's 
removal." 

"  It  is  the  great  land-owner,  what's  called  the  prophet." 

"  What  is  his  name  ?  " 

"It  is  Gilfort.  He  has  a  mighty  colony  in  the  West, 
where  they  do  all  he  says.  0,  he  has  heaps  of  money  !  " 

"  But  what  does  Gilfort  want  of  Miss  Harcourt?"  said 
De  Lisle,  who  now  recollected  to  have  heard  of  his  impostures 
and  great  doings  in  the  far  West. 

"  He  wants  her  among  his  wives,"  replied  Jim. 

"  Among  his  wives  !  "  exclaimed  De  Lisle,  with  a  shudder; 
"  pray,  how  many  wives  has  he  ?  " 

"  That 's  telling,"  said  Jim.    "  I  never  counted  them.    He 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  377 

believes  it's  revealed  to  him  from  heaven  to  take  all  that 
pleases  him.  But  he  has  no  queen,  and  I  guess  Miss  Har- 
court  "will  be  his  queen." 

"  Is  it  possible?  "  said  De  Lisle,  with  blank  astonishment. 
"Has  Miss  Harcourt  —  the  pure,  the  pious,  and  the  good  — 
been  three  months  in  such  hands  ?  Pray>  Jini,  do  you  know 
the  Marmots,  of  Wyoming?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  —  well.  Mrs.  Marmot  is  one  of  the  great  man's 
wives.  I  have  attended  them  in  many  of  their  —  what '11 
you  call  it?  —  interviews." 

"  Jim,  you  shock  me  !     Where  was  her  husband?  " 

"  0,  he's  as  deep  in't  as  any  of  them.  Ho,  too,  believes 
it 's  revealed  to  do  so.  He  'd  lay  down  his  head,  and  have  it 
cut  off,  for  the  great  man." 

"  Gracious  Heaven  !  is  such  the  family  to  which  this  inno- 
cent girl  has  been  betrayed  ?  Jim,  you  must  go  with  me, 
this  day,  to  Wyoming,  to  certify  these  facts,  and  assist  in 
recovering  your  mistress." 

"  No  cause  of  alarm,  sir,"  said  Jim.  "  She  '11  be  a  great 
lady,  anyway.  And,  besides,  they  are  not  in  Wyoming." 

"  Where  are  they?"  inquired  De  Lisle,  still  more  alarmed. 

"To  the  far  West,  I  s'pose." 

"What!  do  you  affirm,  Jim,  that  Gilfort  has  taken  Miss 
Harcourt  to  parts  unknown,  to  make  her  his  wife,  or  concu- 
bine, whichever  you  please?  " 

"I  do;  and,  for  a  consideration,  I'll  make  oath  of  the 
same." 

"  I  offer  you  nothing  for  your  oaths,"  answered  De  Lisle, 
fearing  to  invalidate  his  testimony.  "  I  simply  inquire  for 
my  own  gratification,  and  will  do  as  I  promised.  How  do 
you  know  what  you  affirm  ?  " 

"How  should  I  not  know  it,  when  I  have  been  for  years 
32* 


378  MAPLETON;    OR, 

at  service  round  the  person  of  the  great  man,  and  have  caught 
it  all  from  his  lips,  on  various  occasions  ?  It  is  but  six  months 
since  I  offered  myself  to  this  family,  by  his  command." 

"Then  you  have  been  his  spy?  Was  it  you  that  lately 
mailed  a  letter  from  this  place  to  Mr.  Douglass? " 

"  The  very  same.  A  body  must  have  a  living,  you  know. 
I  am  a  poor  one,  and  has  to  do  the  best  I  can.  But  I  repent 
the  part  I  have  acted,"  added  Jim,  who,  in  truth,  had  expe- 
rienced a  gradual  decline  of  the  mesmerism  of  Gilfort's  influ- 
ence, or  he  would  never  have  given  the  hints  that  led  to  these 
disclosures. 

"  Where  did  you  get  that  letter,  Jim? " 

"  It  came  from  the  great  man,  sir,  enclosed  in  one  to  me." 

"  Who  are  joined  with  Gilfort  in  this  conspiracy  ?  Do  you 
know  of  any?" 

"  Yes, —  all  his  servants." 

"  None  in  these  parts  ?  " 

"  None  that  I  know  of,  except  a  rich  man  in  Riverton.  I 
drove  the  great  man's  carriage  to  his  house,  last  winter,  and, 
it  being  cold,  I  occupied  the  hall,  out  of  which  there  was  an 
open  door  to  a  room  where  the  two  consulted  the  matter,  and 
arranged  the  whole  plan."  Here  he  detailed  as  much  of  the 
conversation  as  he  could  recollect,  with  this  difference, —  that 
he  left  De  Lisle  to  suppose  that  Skampton  was  in  the  secret 
of  Gilfort's  designs ;  and  it  is  probable  that  Jim  thought  so 
himself.  The  story  so  coincided  with  what  he  knew  of 
Skampton's  visit  to  the  Harcourts,  that  he  did  not  doubt  its 
truth. 

"  Jim,  do  you  know  any  other  witnesses  of  these  facts  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  of  the  fact  that  it  was  the  design  of  Gilfort  to  make 
Miss  Harcourt  his  wife  I  have  many  witnesses." 

De  Lisle  saw  at  once  that  his  only  course  for  the  recovery 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  379 

of  Miss  Harcourt  was  to  take  out  a  writ  for  conspiracy  against 
both  Skampton  and  Gilfort.  He  therefore  gave  several  hours 
to  further  investigations,  and,  having  thoroughly  prepared 
himself,  he  set  off,  in  company  with  an  officer,  to  take  Skamp- 
ton into  custody,  the  only  one  named  in  the  indictment  whose 
location  was  certainly  known.  A  gracious  Providence  seemed 
to  have  directed  his  steps,  for  they  reached  Skampton' s  man- 
sion on  the  very  day  of  Mr.  Harcourt's  arrival,  and  a  short 
time  after  he  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  insensibility.  They 
learned  at  a  neighboring  inn  that  a  stranger  had  just  fallen 
into  a  fit  at  Mr.  Skampton' s ;  that  physicians  had  been  in 
attendance,  and  had  partially  recovered  him,  though  his  rea- 
son seemed  hopelessly  gone.  Mr.  De  Lisle,  meeting  with  the 
principal  physician  at  the  inn,  inquired  of  him  who  this 
stranger  was. 

"  A  Mr.  Harcourt,  from  New  York,  I  think,  sir,"  said  the 
physician. 

"  What  is  the  cause  of  this  attack?"  inquired  De  Lisle, 
without  intimating  any  knowledge  of  the  stranger. 

"Mental  anxiety,  I  think,  aggravated  by  a  too  free  use  of 
the  bottle.  I  should  judge  that  he  has  a  daughter,  to  whom 
some  misfortune  has  happened ;  for,  in  his  ravings,  he  is  con- 
tinually alluding  to  her,  with  the  most  terrific  and  agonized 
expressions." 

"  Could  not  Mr.  Skampton  inform  you  whether  the  man 
had  a  daughter  in  trouble  or  not? " 

' '  No ;  the  honorable  gentleman  says  he  has  a  daughter, 
but  he  knows  of  no  misfortune  ever  happening  to  her.  He 
thinks  it  a -mere  freak  of  the  man's  brain." 

"What  is  the  character  of  this  Mr.  Skampton?"  inquired 
De  Lisle,  anxious  to  learn  his  standing  in  his  own  town. 

"  He  is  a  great  patron,  and  as  good  as  he  is  great.     Our 


880  MAPLETON;   OB, 

town  owes  more  to  him  than  to  all  the  other  men  in  it.  He 
makes  it  a  central  point  of  learning  and  influence.  He  is  the 
conservator  of  the  renowned  past,  and  a  mighty  opponent  of 
our  mad  innovations,  Without  him,  I  am  sure  I  should  lose 
half  my  business." 

"Humph!  to  be  sure;  I  see,"  said  De  Lisle,  lost  in  his 
own  thoughts.  "Then  this  honorable  gentleman  knows  of 
no  misfortune  to  the  daughter  of  the  insane  man?  " 

"  None ;  this  he  affirmed  over  and  over  again." 

"Where  does  he  live?" 

The  physician  here  gave  the  direction  to  the  gate,  with  the 
porter,  and  admonitory  bell,  the  ravine  and  its  carriage-way, 
the  terrace  and  its  magnificent  array  of  buildings,  overlooked 
by  the  observatory,  which  we  have  before  described  as  com- 
bining in  the  distinguished  man's  seat  of  opulence  and  of 
power.  De  Lisle  set  off  immediately,  leaving  the  sheriff 
behind,  that  he  might  explore  the  ground  before  revealing 
the  nature  of  his  business.  When  he  reached  the  mansion, 
he  found  poor  Harcourt  raving  mad,  crying,  "  Sarah  !  Sarah  ! 
Sarah  !  "  as  loud  as  he  could  scream.  "  Come  to  me,  dear, 
precious  daughter  !  Hands  off!  —  thieves,  villains,  seducers, 
cut-throats! — touch  her,  and  I '11  be  the  death  of  you!" 
De  Lisle  tried  to  command  his  attention,  but  to  no  purpose. 
He  continued  to  rave,  in  the  most  piteous  manner,  over  his 
darling  daughter.  Turning  to  Skampton,  who  did  not  recog- 
nize his  visitor,  having  seen  him  but  a  moment  the  previous 
winter,  De  Lisle  said, 

"  Can  you  give  no  information  concerning  this  man's 
daughter?" 

"I  —  I  —  I  give  information?  how  should  I  be  able  to 
give  information?  I  know  nothing  of  her,"  said  Skampton, 
in  a  flurried  and  agitated  manner,  from  a  vague  idea  that  it 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  381 

might  be  somebody  that  had  a  right  to  demand.  A  guilty 
conscience  needs  no  accusers. 

"  Sir,  in  the  name  of  humanity  I  demand  the  place  of  Miss 
Harcourt's  concealment! "  said  De  Lisle,  with  an  imperious 
air,  which  he  knew  full  well  how  to  assume. 

"Miss  Harcourt's  concealment!  is  Miss  Harcourt  con- 
cealed ?  "  replied  Skampton,  perfectly  thunder-struck.  "  How 
should  I  know  the  place  of  her  concealment?" 

"  Think  not  to  put  me  off  in  this  way,"  said  De  Lisle,  in  a 
decisive  tone.  "Restore  her  to  her  father,  or  answer  it  at 
the  tribunal  of  your  country.  It  can  be  proved,  by  compe- 
tent witnesses,  that  you  contrived  and  instigated  this  nefari- 
ous plot  for  the  ruin  of  an  innocent  and  accomplished  young 
lady.  "You  made  this  miserable  father  believe  that  the  ruin 
of  his  daughter  was  certain,  if  he  did  not  remove  her.  "You 
suggested  Wyoming  as  the  place  of  her  concealment.  You 
contrived  the  plan  to  decoy  her  thither.  "You  made  your- 
self responsible  for  the  good  conduct  of  the  Marmots,  whom 
you  knew  to  be  as  black  in  character  as  infamy  could  make 
them.  You,  to  accomplish  your  dark  purposes  of  conspir- 
acy and  seduction,  have  coolly,  deliberately,  and  under  the 
cloak  of  religion  and  duty,  conspired  against  the  peace  and 
virtue  of  an  unsuspecting  family.  Sir,  we  can  have  no  quib- 
bles here  !  Nothing  but  the  restoration  —  untouched,  un- 
harmed —  of  this  abused  and  insulted  young  lady  can  divert 
from  your  hoary  head  the  gathering  storm.  Sir,  I  demand 
the  place  of  her  concealment ! ' ' 

"0,  God!  witness  to  my  innocence!"  said  Skampton, 
trembling  in  every  fibre. 

"Talk  not  of  innocence,  you  perjured  hypocrite!  Look 
upon  this  wreck  which  your  infamous  stratagem  has  made  of 
a  doting  father  and  a  distinguished  citizen !  Call  not  that 


382  MAPI/ETON;    OR, 

innocence  which  has  robbed  him  of  the  choicest  jewel  of  a 
father's  heart,  which  has  bleached  his  locks  more  than  the 
frosts  of  fifty  winters,  and  has  broken  up  the  happiest  of 
family  unions !  " 

"I  do  protest  I  have  acted  in  good  faith.     I  know  no 

more  of  Miss  Harcourt's  concealment  than  you  do.     It  was 

at  the  suggestion  of  another  that  I  advised  her  removal  to 

Wyoming,  and  I  did  it  because  I  thought  it  a  service  to  the 

"family." 

"  Yes ;  you  did  it  because  you  wished  to  aid  your  accom- 
plice in  his  work  of  seduction.  To  convince  you  that  I  have 
the  facts  in  the  case,  I  now  assure  you  that  both  this  infa- 
mous Gilfort  and  yourself  are  under  indictment  for  conspiring 
against  the  liberty  and  virtue  of  an  unsuspecting  victim ;  and 
I  swear,  by  the  God  whose  our  breath  is,  that,  while  a  drop 
of  blood  beats  in  my  veins,  neither  of  you  shall  go  unwhipped 
of  justice ! " 

"What!  my  worthy  friend,  Samuel  Gilfort?"  gasped 
Skampton,  almost  suffocated  with  terror  and  amazement. 

"A  devil  incarnate  !  There  is  nothing  too  bad  for  your 
friend  to  do.  Where  is  the  wretch?"  said  De  Lisle,  with 
vehemence. 

11  Sir,  you  abuse  a  worthy  man.  He  is  in  the  West,  aid- 
ing the  cause  of  the  poor  colonists." 

"  He  is  teaching  somebody  to  serve  the  devil,  as  he  taught 
you." 

"Do  you  mean  to  insult  me?"  said  Skampton,  who  was 
taken  with  a  sudden  fit  of  personal  dignity. 

"It  is  useless  to  parley,"  replied  De  Lisle;  "the  law 
makes  you  responsible,  and  I  will  hold  you  to  it.  I  shall 
find  means  of  bringing  you  to  your  senses." 

De  Lisle  went  out,  and  soon  returned,  with  the  sheriff, 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  383 

who  placed  the  great  conservator  under  arrest ;  and  from  that 
moment  all  his  courage,  magnanimity  and  distinguished  qual- 
ities, forsook  him,  and  he  sunk  into  his  native  littleness.  The 
report  flew  like  wildfire,  that  the  renowned  Mr.  Skampton  was 
under  arrest  for  conspiring  to  rob  a  young  lady  of  her  free- 
dom and  her  virtue,—  beautifnl,  too,  she  was  said  to  be,  and 
that  her  father  had  gone  mad  with  grief  and  mortification. 
Dark  surmises  lingered  in  men's  minds,  and  the  thousand- 
and-one  hangers  on,  whom,  in  his  better  days,  he  would  not 
put  among  the  dogs  of  his  flock,  were  now  forward  to  charge 
upon  him  the  most  flagrant  misdemeanors.  All  protested 
that  they  had  for  years  been  expecting  his  fall.  The  flatter- 
ers, whose  poisoned  words  had  inflamed  his  vanity  and  con- 
verted him  from  a  little  to  a  great  man,  and  had  thus  con- 
tributed to  his  downfall,  were  the  first  to  declare  that  they 
never  had  any  opinion  of  his  abilities  or  his  virtues.  Sap- 
head  said  he  never  had  any  opinion  of  him,  and  now  went 
through  the  country  to  pull  down  Skampton  and  prop  up  the 
anti-temperance  movement.  He  feared  both  might  perish 
together.  The  proof  against  Skampton  was  so  conclusive 
that  the  court  laid  him  under  heavy  bonds  for  his  appearance 
at  his  trial.  But  by  this  time  Skampton's  creditors  got  wind 
of  how  things  were  going  with  him,  and  pounced  upon  what 
he  had.  to  secure  their  debts.  He  was  found  to  be  immensely 
extended ;  and,  at  a  forced  sale,  it  was  feared  that  his  estate 
would  not  pay  fifty  cents  on  a  dollar.  All  he  had  was  put 
under  attachment. 

Unable  to  secure  himself,  he  now  applied  to  his  friends ; 
but,  sad  to  relate,  Avith  all  his  enormous  purchases  of  influ- 
ence and  friendship,  he  found  himself  as  completely  bankrupt 
here  as  in  money.  Not  a  man  came  to  his  relief, —  no,  not 
one.  Diddington  College  passed  a  resolve  rescinding  his  doc- 


384  MAPLETON;   OB, 

torate  of  laws,  because  its  friends  thought  it  would  injure 
their  institution  to  have  the  name  of  such  a  man  on  its  lists. 
Dr.  Treadmill,  who  had  by  this  time  married  rich,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  opulent  men  in  the  country,  was  waited  on 
by  Mrs.  Skampton,  and  entreated,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  that 
he  would  go  security  to  save  her  husband  from  prison.  Tread- 
mill trembled,  fluttered,  rubbed  his  hands,  snapped  his  eyes, 
had  a  sudden  fit  of  palpitation,  and,  to  his  great  grief,  was 
compelled  to  decline  the  honor.  Nothing  but  imprisonment 
was  left  to  the  afflicted,  fallen  Skampton,  and  to  prison  he 
went. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

A   DIVINE  RIGHT  TO   DO   WRONG. 

» 

"  But  then  I  sigh,  and,  with  a  piece  of  scripture, 
Tell  them  that  God  bids  us  do  good  for  evil ; 
And  thus  I  clothe  my  naked  villany 
With  old  odd  ends,  stolen  forth  of  Holy  Writ." 

SHAKSPEARE. 

TENDER  thoughts  cluster  round  that  home  where  the 
daughter  is  merged  in  the  wife.  The  light-hearted  girl  goes 
out  to  return  only  as  visitor  and  mistress  of  another  domestic 
polity.  Unbidden  tears  testify  to  the  pangs  of  separation, 
even  though  all  are  agreeable  and  consenting.  The  departing 
one  turns  away  her  face  to  weep  over  her  buried  girlhood, 
and  the  sundered  ties  of  her  youthful  home.  "I  am  to 
repose  no  more  in  the  paternal  arms.  I  am  a  girl  no  longer. 
A  new  and  untried  path  is  before  me.  Indulgent  Providence, 
guide  my  inexperience,  instruct  my  ignorance,  bless  the  dear 


MOKE   WORK   FOR   TilE   MAINE   LAW.  385 

ones  whom  I  leave  behind,"  she  says,  and  smiles  through  her 
tears  on  the  happy  possessor  of  her  heart  and  her  hand. 

"Dear  daughter,  you  will  write,  will  you  not?  Write 
soon,  darling,  very  soon." 

"  Dear  sister,  come  back, —  do,  do  !  We  shall  be  so  lone- 
some !  Remember  how  much  we  all  love  you." 

"0,  yes ;  I  will  always  be  a  daughter,  a  sister.  You"  will 
all  be  to  me  what  you  have  been,  and  more.  Yes,  you  too 
must  write.  You  must  come  and  see  me.  0,  how  glad  it 
will  make  me  !  The  very  dog  from  my  girlhood's  home  will 
be  welcome." 

This  is  nature.  The  fruit,  with  a  shock,  leaves  its  parent 
stem, —  the  young,  by  constraint,  its  dam.  But,  if  such  be 
the  feeling  where  all  is  favorable,  how  much  more  painful 
where  all  is  adverse  !  The  father  saying,  with  bitter  feel- 
ings, "  My  child  is  ruined !  I  did  what  I  could  to  save  her, 
but  all  in  vain!  "  The  mother,  weeping  in  secret  over  the 
lost  image  of  herself,  beseeches  her  God  to  protect  and  restore 
the  wanderer.  Brothers  and  sisters,  in  sad  discourse  about 
the  dreadful  calamity  \vhich  has  befallen  them,  find  no  hope, 
no  consolation. 

These  are  touching  scenes,  but  less  aggravating  than  in 
the  case  of  Miss  Harcourt.  She  was  led  by  parental  hands 
into  the  jaws  of  the  destroyer,  like  children  into  the  burning  • 
furnace  of  Moloch.  Better  give  her  to  the  flames  than  to  a 
religious  debauchee.  Strange  combination  of  words,  yet 
true  in  all  time, —  our  own  as  well,  if  we  are  allowed  to  apply 
the  term  religion  to  such  shocking  perversions.  Society  has 
its  wild  beasts,  harpies,  argus-eyed  monsters,  many-headed 
dragons, —  men  lurking  in  secret  to  ensnare  and  destroy,  who 
are  far  more  to  be  dreaded  than  those  fabulous  animals  on 
which  ancient  prowess  expended  its  force.  Such  men  subsist 
33 


386  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

upon  the  ruin  of  families,  crushed  spirits,  blighted  hopes, 
parental  despair,  and  household  degradation.  0,  God !  where 
sleeps  thy  thunder,  that  it  falls  not  on  these  despoilers  of  thy 
fair  creation  ?  It  was  the  alcoholic  sorceress  that  had  done 
the  deed.  She  had  bewitched  Gilfort  by  hereditary  influence 
and  actual  possession.  She  had  turned  Skampton's  conserv- 
ative brain  towards  the  protection  of  her  own  nefarious  traffic. 
She  had  placed  Charles  Douglass  under  the  ban  of  a  drunk- 
ard's son.  She  had  corrupted  the  heart  and  perverted  the 
reason  of  Harcourt.  No  effect  was  ever  more  plainly  trace- 
able to  its  cause,  than  all  these  evils  are  to  that  bane  of  vir- 
tue, health,  character,  property,  domestic  peace,  and  national 
prosperity  —  alcohol. 

Sarah  Harcourt  was  now  the  victim  of  this  embodied  sor- 
ceress. Gilfort  was  infinitely  worse  than  an  ordinary  se- 
ducer. He  had  deluded  himself,  and  his  victims  too,  into  the 
horrible  feeling  that  religion  lent  them  its  sanction.  Had 
Sarah  known  her  condition,  how  easy  would  have  been  her 
escape  !  But  she  was  in  ignorance,  her  father  deceived,  and 
even  Skampton  himself  was  unconsciously  acting  as  the  pimp 
and  pander  of  the  basest  of  men. 

"  My  dear  Blandy  ! "  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  "  do  excuse  my 
substituting  that  name  for  Sarah.  It  is  so  sweet  to  associate 
•you  with  my  dear  departed  one  !  My  Blandy,  husband  finds 

it  necessary  to  take city  in  his  way  westward,  and  I 

hope  you  will  feel  a  pleasure  in  visiting  so  renowned  a  place. 
Our  first  colonists  landed  in  those  parts." 

"  It  will  be  a  pleasure  for  me  to  do  so,"  said  Sarah.  "  I 
have  leisure.  I  have  no  desire  to  hasten  our  journey." 

"  Yes,  love,  we  will  travel  so  far  by  private  conveyance,  to 
enjoy  the  country  scenery,  and  thence  we  will  make  our  way 
by  railroad  and  steamboat." 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        387 

Great  preparations  were  made  for  this  journey.  Two 
grooms  were  selected  from  the  establishment  to  accompany 
them  in  a  coach  and  four,  richly  caparisoned,  not  at  all  in 
keeping  with  republican  simplicity.  The  wire-pullers  behind 
the  scene  evidently  meant  to  make  a  great  impression,  as  if 
such  a  mind  as  that  of  Miss  Harcourt  could  be  vanquished 
by  glitter  and  gewgaw.  None  are  so  puerile  and  contempt- 
ible, in  dealing  with  a  woman  of  real  merit,  as  those  who 
have  spent  their  lives  among  the  mere  apologies  of  woman- 
hood. They  passed  leisurely  through  the  country,  seeking 
in  their  way  whatever  was  sublime,  beautiful  or  picturesque 
in  scenery,  or  pleasant  in  rustic  life.  Miss  Harcourt  enjoyed 
it  much.  While  they  were  in  the  heart  of  what  is  called  the 
Beech  Woods,  Sarah  remarked  that  it  reminded  her  of  the 
forests  in  Mapleton,  which  were  equally  dense  and  profound. 

"Mapleton!"  said  Mrs.  Marmot:  "did  you  ever  know 
Mapleton?" 

"I  lived  there  a  short  time,  when  I  was  a  child." 

"  Then  you  must  have  heard  of  our  great  colonial  leader 
in  the  West?" 

"What,  Samuel  Gilfort ?" 

"  The  same, —  the  most  distinguished  man  in  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi." 

"  He  is  a  dreadful  creature  !  "  replied  Sarah,  with  a  shud- 
der. 

"Indeed,  Miss  Harcourt,"  said  Mr.  Marmot,  "do  you 
think  so?" 

"  My  dear  Blandy,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  "the  best  men 
are  often  most  maligned." 

"And  the  worst  men  pass  for  the  greatest  saints,"  replied 
Sarah. 

"No  doubt,  no  doubt,"  said  Marmot,  waiving  the  subject. 


888  MAPLETON;  OR, 

"  The  lake  view,  I  believe,  is  one  of  the  charms  of  Maple- 
ton." 

"  Yes,  it  is  very  pretty,"  replied  Sarah;  and  then  they 
passed  to  subjects  in  general. 

The  object  of  this  conversation  was  to  sound  Miss  Harcourt 
as  to  the  possibility  of  having  Gilfort  join  them  in  the  jour- 
ney, who  was  all  this  time  so  near  as  to  have  daily  communi- 
cation with  the  Marmots.  They  had  become  the  perfect  dupes 
of  his  pleasure.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  one  mind  so 
completely  occupying  the  place  of  another.  What  is  it? 
Mesmerism?  —  witchcraft?  Col.  Stone's  book  on  Mathias, 
the  impostor,  details  facts  on  this  subject  too  astounding  to 
be  believed,  except  on  evidence  not  to  be  doubted.  That  very 
evening  the  Marmots  saw  Gilfort,  when  the  latter  inquired, 
"  How  lies  the  land  ?  Can  I  join  you  ?  " 

"By  no  means,  venerated  father,"  said  Marmot,  giving 
him  the  title  common  to  Gilfort's  dupes.  "  Conversion  is  a 
slow  process,  even  with  the  most  convincing  evidence.  Your 
presence  will  drive  the  bird  from  its  cage." 

"  My  blood  boiled  to  hear  her  abuse  your  sacred  person," 
said  Mrs.  Marmot. 

"Nevermind.  Treat  her  kindly.  I '11  meet  you  in  the 
heart  of  the  great  prairie,  where  there  is  no  danger  of  an 
escape." 

Accordingly,  Gilfort  left  the  next  morning,  and  went  with 
all  speed  to  his  seat  in  Missouri. 

Leaving  Miss  Harcourt  to  her  journey,  we  will  follow  Gil- 
fort  to  his  home.  We  will  sketch  the  principles  of  his  colo- 
nial power,  or  the  nature  of  the  tree  into  which  his  initiated 
were  engrafted.  Unfortunately,  it  was  a  tree  that  reversed 
the  ordinary  law,  the  stock,  and  not  the  scion,  determining 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       389 

the  character  of  the  fruit.      The  cardinal  principle  was  that 
of  England's  king : 

"And  thus  I  clothe  my  naked  villany 
With  old  odd  ends,  stolen  forth  of  Holy  Writ." 

Gilfort,  unlike  Richard  the  Third,  really  thought  himself 
invested  with  scriptural  authority  to  do  as  he  did.  He  had 
derived  this  perversion  from  the  fountain  that  supplied  his 
his  blood.  He  had  nourished  it  with  wine.  It  was  part 
and  parcel  of  his  being.  His  speech  before  his  chosen  leaders, 
on  this  his  return  among  them,  lets  out  the  heart  of  the 
man. 

"  I  cannot  too  highly  commend,"  he  said,  "the  zeal  and 
faithfulness  with  which  you  have  managed  our  colonial 
interests  during  my  absence.  This  colony  is  yet  in  its 
infancy ;  but  I  foresee  that  it  will  grow  till  it  absorbs  all 
others,  and  rules  the  nations.  Our  principles  entitle  us  to 
this  destiny,  and  are  a  pledge  that  we  shall  enjoy  it.  The 
other  nations  are  to  us  what  the  Canaanites  were  to  Israel, — 
a  prey,  a  booty,  which  we  are  at  liberty  to  appropriate  by  any 
means  in  our  power.  Joshua,  David,  Elijah,  and  all  the 
heads  of  Israel,  used  stratagem  with  their  enemies,  and  we 
must  do  the  same  with  ours.  Their  riches  are  our  riches ; 
their  houses  our  houses ;  their  pleasures  our  pleasures ;  their 
wives  our  wives.  We  are  the  sons  of  God,  to  whom  are  given 
the  daughters  of  men,  that  we  may  choose  wives  among  them 
according  to  the  desire  of  our  eyes.  They  are  doomed,  and  we 
are  not  required  to  observe  faith  in  our  dealings  with  them. 
Was  Jacob  precise  as  to  his  mode  of  appropriating  the  flocks  of 
the  Syrian  7  Did  not  Simeon  and  Levi  first  weaken  their 
enemies  by  a  pious  fraud,  and  then  put  them  to  the  sword  1 
Did  not  Samuel  hew  down  Agag  before  the  Lord  ?  These 
33* 


390  MAPLETON;    OR, 

things  are  our  examples  in  dealing  with  the  Gentiles  of  our 
own  age. 

' '  We  must  treat  them  as  God  treats  them.  He  has  made 
them  a  curse,  and  we  must  make  them  a  prey.  Stratagem 
is  our  policy.  If  temporizing  will  give  us  the  greater  advan- 
tage over  them,  we  will  temporize;  if  cutting  them  down, 
root  and  branch,  serves  our  purpose  better,  we  will  cut  them 
down.  This  is  the  course  to  which  we  are  beckoned  by  the 
lights  of  example." 

Think  not,  reader,  that  this  is  an  improbable  story.  The 
Jesuits,  from  the  beginning,  have  acted  on  the  same  principles. 
Of  all  parties  and  organizations,  those  which  assume  to  be  the 
special  favorites  of  heaven,  to  whom  all  other  parties  and  or- 
ganizations are  given  as  a  prey,  to  be  dealt  with  as  Israel  were 
required  by  a  special  dispensation  to  deal  with  a  doomed  race 
of  old,  are  the  most  dangerous,  demoralizing,  and  destructive. 
They  claim  a  divine  right  to  repress  the  sentiments  of 
humanity,  to  disregard  truth  and  justice,  and  to  act  against 
the  freedom  of  the  world.  Of  precisely  the  same  character 
are  attempts  to  justify  any  specific  wrong  by  the  Bible, — 
such  as  slavery,  despotism,  and  the  liquor  traffic,  and  drink- 
ing customs  of  society.  Do  the  Scriptures  convert  wrong 
into  right,  falsehood  into  truth,  vice  into  virtue,  and  make 
over  natural  injustice  into  justice,  by  a  special  dispensation  ? 
Is  the  Bible  given  to  stultify  reason  and  conscience  ?  Is  it  to 
preserve  forever  unstanched  the  blood  of  war  ?  Is  it  to 
render  the  chains  of  the  slave  eternal?  Did  Christ  set 
Heaven's  imprint  to  the  alcoholic  trade  and  usages,  by  con- 
verting water  into  wine  ?  Will  Christian  men  write  books 
and  preach  sermons  prostituting  revealed  religion  to  purposes 
BO  base,  so  abhorrent  to  humanity  ? 

0,  ye  scribes  of  the  people !  I  warn  you' to  beware  of  sport- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.  391 

ing  with  heaven's  thunder !  Touch  not  the  ark  of  God  with 
polluted  hands !  Involve  not  eternal  truth  with  your 
temporary  questions  and  perishable  interests !  Seek  not 
asylum  for  the  world's  corruptions  in  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Most  High  !  If  what  you  assume  were  true, —  which,  thank 
God,  it  is  not ! —  that  the  Bible  tolerates  wrong  and  oppres- 
sion, then  humanity  will  sweep  it  away,  with  the  Koran, 
Shasters,  Zendavesta,  and  all  those  ancient  charters  under 
which  error  and  wickedness  have  so  long  intrenched  them- 
selves. If  it  were  indeed  a  charter  to  protect  and  perpetuate 
hoary  abuses,  then,  perish  its  pages,  perish  its  priests,  perish 
its  prophets,  perish  its  principles,  perish  its  precepts,  perish 
its  church,  its  litany,  and  its  ritual !  Your  reasoning  cannot 
save  it.  It  ought  not  to  save  it.  It  is  not  worth  saving. 
Nothing  is  worth  saving  which  arrays  itself  against  humanity, 
against  freedom,  against  virtue,  against  God.  I  beseech  you 
to  take  warning  by  the  Gilfortites  and  the  Jesuits,  not  to 
prop  up  the  liquor  traffic,  slavery,  the  drinking  usage's,  or 
any  existing  abuse,  by  an  appeal  to  the  Word  of  God.  The 
same  Intelligence  speaks  in  revelation  as  in  nature,  nor  does 
he  affirm  in  the  one  what  he  denies  in  the  other. 

Gifort  found,  on  his  return,  that  Bludgeon's  emigrant  host 
had  pitched  not  many  miles  distant.  Full  of  mischief  against 
one  by  whom  he  had  been  so  severely  rebuked,  he  sent  a  man 
with  a  cask  of  whiskey  into  his  camp,  to  try  the  strength  of 
its  temperance  principles.  Accordingly,  the  man  posted  him- 
self under  an  awning,  in  a  convenient  position  for  his  trade, 
and  began  to  expose  the  seductive  commodity  in  the  market. 
Under  ordinary  circumstances,  the  bait  would  not  have  taken  ; 
but  now,  afflicted  with  disease,  as  the  emigrants  were,  by  a 
change  of  water,  fatigued  by  a  long  journey  and  its  many 
privations,  and  prostrated  by  the  relaxing  heat  of  a  bilious 


392  MAPLETON;    OR, 

atmosphere,  they  deemed  it  prudent  to  buy  a  little  as  medi- 
cine, which  even  their  temperance  pledge  allowed. 

But  not  a  few  of  them  were  reformed  drunkards,  and 
could  not  use  the  article  at  all  without  abusing  it.  Con- 
sequently, when  Bludgeon  arrived,  who  had  not  yet  joined 
them,  he  found,  to  his  mortification,  that  his  forlorn  hope  of 
total  abstinence  were  convulsed  with  riot  and  drunkenness. 
Moses  descending  from  the  mount  to  witness  the  idolatry  of 
the  golden  calf  could  scarcely  have  felt  intenser  indigna- 
tion. His  blood  boiled,  his  chest  heaved,  and  he  felt,  for 
once,  a  despair  of  the  efficacy  of  his  own  principles.  But  he 
restrained  the  expression  of  his  feelings.  He  soon  learned 
where  the  serpent  lay  concealed,  as  he  had  divined  before- 
hand the  den  from  which  he  had  emerged,  knowing  their  con- 
tiguity to  Gilfort's  colony.  He  went  quietly  to  the  Avhiskey- 
factor's  awning,  and  said,  "  What  do  you  ask  for  a  pint  of 
that  medicine  ?  " 

"A  phip,"  said  the  man. 

"  A  phip  !  "  replied  Bludgeon  ;  "  that  's  dirt  cheap.  I  'd 
thought  it  would  be  a  bit,  in  this  distant  country." 

"  No,  we  have  n't  far  to  bring  it ;  we  can  afford  it  cheap," 
said  the  man.  • 

"  Eh,  I  see,"  said  Bludgeon ;  and,  seizing  an  axe,  he 
dealt  a  furious  blow  ot  the  barrel-head,  when  out  rushed  the 
imprisoned  enemy,  and  sunk  into  the  prairie  mould,  without  the 
hope  of  a  resurrection. 

"There  you  have  a  market  for  all  at  once,"  he  added. 
"  Now,  go  and  tell  your  master  to  send  all  he  has,  and  we  '11 
buy  it  up  in  the  same  way  !  " 

The  fellow,  looking  round,  prepared  to  pitch  in  upon  the 
assailant  of  his  merchandise ;  but,  seeing  Bludgeon's  bony 
battery  standing  in  an  attitude  of  defiance,  his  caution  pre- 
dominated, and  he  made  his  escape. 


MORE  WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE  LAW.  393 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

MISS  HARCOURT'S  ADVENTURES. 

"  Be  what  thou  wilt,  thou  art  my  prisoner. 
0,  fairest  beauty,  do  not  fear,  nor  fly  ! 
For  I  will  touch  thee  but  with  reverent  hands, 
And  lay  them  gently  on  thy  tender  side." — SHAKSPEARE. 

Miss  HARCOURT  had  by  this  time  become  a  subject  of  general 
interest  and  notoriety.  The  world  was  full  of  curiosity  con- 
cerning a  young  lady  whose  fate  involved  the  fall  of  a  man 
of  Mr.  Skampton's  position,  the  possession  of  whose  person 
had  been  an  object  of  so  much  scheming  with  the  great 
colonial  dignitary  of  the  West,  whose  loss  had  driven  an 
opulent  father  to  madness,  a  noble  lover  into  foreign  countries, 
and  for  whom  so  many  men  of  eminence  were  ready  to 
jeopard  property  and  life. 

After  the  conversation  upon  Gilfort,  noticed  in  the  fore- 
going chapter,  Miss  Harcourt  heard  not  a  disagreeable  sen- 
timent in  all  the  early  part  of  her  journey,  but  everything  to 
entertain  and  delight  her.  Their  city  sight-seeing  was  as 
pleasant  as  it  was  improving.  Acting  by  the  supposed 
order  of  her  father,  whom  she  expected  to  meet  in  a  few  days, 
no  suspicion  of  the  snare  into  which  she  had  fallen  crossed 
her  mind.  She  was  peaceful,  buoyant,  happy, —  happy  both 
in  herself  and  in  the  confidence  of  her  personal  associates. 
Indeed,  they  were  everything  to  her  that  friendship  could 
demand ;  bland,  gracious,  prompt  to  anticipate  her  every 
want,  and  seemingly  congenial  sharers  in  her  sentiments  of 


394  MAPLETON;    OR, 

piety  and  devotion.  Their  route,  after  leaving  the  city,  was 
not  direct,  but  circuitous ;  the  avowed  object  of  which  was  to 
afford  her  a  view  of  all  that  was  rare  and  extraordinary  in 
the  country  through  which  they  were  passing.  Whatever 
was  enchanting  in  scenery,  sublime  and  awful  in  precipice  and 
cascade,  beautiful  in  .the  green  expanse  of  ocean  prairies 
dotted  with  forest  islands  to  diversify  and  relieve  the  view, — 
yea,  whatever  was  delightful  in  cultivated  or  uncultivated 
nature, —  was  spread  out  before  her,  to  entertain,  amuse,  and 
occupy  her  thoughts.  Their  plan  seemed  to  be  to  bury  the  past 
in  the  present,  and  with  new  scenes  to  open  upon  their  ward 
new  hopes  and  aspirations,  to  make  her  a  more  pliant  and 
obsequious  acquisition  to  him  who  hoped  to  rule  her  destiny. 
Vain,  delusive  expectation  !  Those  who  live  to  eat,  drink 
and  enjoy,  may  be  thus  disposed  of;  but  not  the  devotees  of 
right,  not  the  heirs  of  high-born  faith  and  duty. 

"You  see,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot  to  Sarah,  as  they  approached 
the  end  of  their  journey,  "  how  magnificent  are  nature's 
works.  How  unlike  the  meagre  productions  of  art !  How 
little  you  who  confine  yourselves  to  cities  know  of  the  riches, 
splendor  and  magnificence,  of  the  world  we  inhabit!" 

"  You  are  aware  that  I  am  not  of  this  kind.  I  am  a  plant 
of  the  country.  I  always  loved  the  country,"  said  Sarah. 

"Ah,  yes;  but  not  as  I  do,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  with 
something  unusual  in  her  manner,  that  surprised  Sarah. 
"  Would  that  I  could  transfer  my  vision  to  you,  and  then  you 
would  enjoy  the  country  as  I  do." 

"Wherein  is  your  vision  different  from  mine?  Are  not 
the  hues  of  light  the  s,ame  to  both?  Are  flowers  more 
blooming  to  the  one  than  the  other?  Do  not  the  sights, 
sounds,  odors,  clouds,  vapors,  trees,  birds,  grass  and  all  vis- 
ible things,  alike  invite  the  admiration  of  every  beholder?  " 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       395 

"No,  Sarah.  Even  you  must  confess  that  cultivated 
minds  see  in  them  charms  •which  are  not  revealed  to  the 
uncultivated." 

"  True,  cultivation  is  necessary  to  enjoy  nature ;  and  no 
doubt  some  are  constitutionally  more  susceptible  to  its  im- 
pressions than  others.  Do  you  mean  more  than  this?" 
inquired  Sarah,  still  impressed  that  some  unexplained  mys- 
tery lurked  in  the  words  of  her  friend. 

"I  suppose  you  confess  to  seeing  a  divinity  in  these 
things,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  warily  opening  he'r  own  fanatical 
ideas  upon  one  whom  she  was  anxious  to  indoctrinate  into 
the  same. 

"  Certainly.  The  Lord  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ; 
and  he  leaves  not  himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  does 
good,  and  gives  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling 
our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness.  The  Bible  teaches  us 
this,  and  nature  teaches  the  same.  But  still,  a  spiritual  mind 
is  alone  competent  to  feel  and  enjoy  it." 

"Precisely  so;  a  spiritual  mind  is  alone  capable  of  seeing 
a  spiritual  God.  But  you  know  the  young  prophet  saw 
more  than  this,  when  Elisha  prayed  that  his  eyes  might  be 
opened.  He  saw  the  mountains  full  of  chariots  and  horses 
of  fire.  Now,  this  is  what  I  see,  Sarah.  All  things  around 
me  teem  with  living,  angelic  beings.  0,  how  beautiful !  — 
how  beautiful !  I  see  them  now  moving  to  and  fro  like  the 
dancing  sunbeams,  like  the  leaping  lightning.  I  hear  them, 
I  hear  them  !  0,  how  transporting  !  It  is  heavenly  music !  " 
And,  during  the  saying  of  this,  the  action,  expression  and 
intonation  of  Mrs.  Marmot  were  an  exact  reflection  of  what 
she  uttered,  as  if  it  was  all  as  real  as  the  prairie  scenery. 

Sarah  was  confounded,  and  thought  it  a  mere  panto- 
mime to  amuse  her;  or,  doubting  what  to  think,  she  said, 


396  MAPLETON  ;     OR, 

"  0,  Mrs.  Marmot,  you  are  joking  !  You  want  to  put  my 
credulity  to  the  test.  You  need  not  think  me  so  easily 
duped."  * 

"Joking?  Do  you  think  I  could  joke  on  a  subject  like 
this  ?  I  am  all  the  time  seeing  these  angelic  beings.  I  talk 
'  with  them,  and  they  talk  with  me.  I  can  get  answers  from 
them  at  any  time.  I  am  a  medium.  I  see  them  at  morning 
and  evening,  reposing  on  their  rosy  pillows  of  cloud  and  va- 
por. 0,  how  beautiful !  —  how  beautiful !  They  dance  in 
the  ambient  air.  They  leap  from  cloud  to  cloud.  They 
sport  in  ether.  X),  Sarah,  that  you  could  see  what  I  see, 
hear  what  I  hear,  feel  what  I  feel !  " 

"  Pray,  Mrs.  Marmot,  who  taught  you  all  this?  Let  me 
know,  and  I  will  take  lessons  of  him." 

"Will  you?"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  who  felt  that  she  had 
reached  the  point,  and  got  the  pledge  she  desired.  ' '  I  will 
tell  you.  If  you  will  lay  aside  your  prejudices,  and  take 
lessons,  I  can  assure  you  it  will  not  be  a  week  before  you  will 
enjoy  these  glorious  sights  and  sounds." 

"  Call  in  your  teacher,  then.  I  am  ready  for  the  first 
lesson,"  said  Sarah,  smiling. 

"  No,  "not  till  we  get  to  Sylvan  Creek." 

"  Does  my  teacher  live  at  Sylvan  Creek  ?  " 

11  That  is  one  of  his  homes." 

"What  is  his  name?" 

"  0,  the  wicked  call  him  Samuel  Gilfort,  but  I  call 

"  Horribl?!  Do  you  speak  of  that  vile  man  ?  "  exclaimed 
Sarah,  perfectly  thunderstruck. 

"  Sarah,  Sarah,  stop  !  You  know  not  what  you  are  say- 
ing. I  would  not  call  him  so  for  all  the  world.  He  has 
taught  me  more  about  spiritual  beings  than  all  other  men." 

"You  do  not  know  that  man,"  said  Sarah,  in  great  con- 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  397 

sternation  at  the  mania  of  confidence  with  which  Mrs.  Mar- 
mot spoke  of  Gilfort.  "  I  know  well  where  he  spent  his 
youth  ;  and  his  character  was  as  bad  as  fraud,  and  vice,  and 
strong  drink,  could  make  it." 

"Those  are  slanders, —  pure,  malicious  slanders,  Sarah. 
You  do  not  know  him,  but  will  now  have  an  opportunity  to 
correct  your  mistake." 

"  What !  by  Gilfort's  acquaintance  ?  No,  never !  never !  " 
said  Sarah,  positively. 

She  had  scarcely  done  speaking,  when  Gilfort  rode  up,  with 
a  troop  of  attendants,  and  horses  gorgeously  caparisoned. 
Mrs.  Marmot  exclaimed,  in  ecstasy,  "  Here  he  comes !  — 
here  he  comes  !  " 

Sarah  turned  deadly  pale,  as  her  real  condition,  in  the 
power  of  Gilfort,  now  took  possession  of  her  mind.  "  0  !  " 
said  she  to  herself,  "  my  presentiments  ! — my  presentiments  ! 
How  sadly,  too  sadly,  are  they  realized !  My  father !  my 
father  !  can  it  be  you  are  in  the  secret  of  all  this  1  My, 
head  is  giddy.  My  heart  is  faint.  God  of  love,  hold  up  thy 
sinking  child !  On  thy  promised  protection  I  lean." 

By  the  time  these  ejaculations  had  passed  through  her 
mind,  she  had  so  far  rallied  her  sinking  spirits  as  to  escape 
fainting,  which  she  dreadfully  feared.  That  her  person 
should  thus  fall,  without  the  power  of  resistance,  into  such 
hands,  seemed  to  her  worse  than  a  hundred  deaths.  Gilfort 
approached,  and  reached  out  his  hand  to  her  with  an  air  of 
extreme  gallantry,  which  brought  the  timid  blood  again  to 
her  cheeks,  and  she  stood  in  all  the  strength  of  her  womanly 
scorn  and  resistance.  Holding  her  hands  firm  by  her  side, 
she  said, 

"  Sir,  what  have  I  to  do  with  you  7  " 

"  To  do  with  me,  Miss  Harcourt  1 "  rejoined  Gilfort,  with 
34 


398  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

a  patronizing  and  gracious  air.  "  Cannot  old  friends  ex- 
change greeting,  after  so  long  an  absence?  " 

"  I  never  acknowledged  you  as  a  friend,  sir,  and  I  never 
will." 

"  You  will  change  your  mind,  Miss  Harcourt,  when  you 
know  me.  I  have  been  slandered.  You  have  heard  all  these 
evil  stories.  I  cannot  blame  you.  But,  Miss  Harcourt,  you 
may  yet  learn  how  deeply  I  have  been  injured.  I  am 
entirely  another  being  from  what  you  think  me  to  be." 

"  Then  rejoice  in  the  consciousness.  I  have  no  interest  to 
know  it.  I  know  enough  of  you  already.  If  you  think, 
by  decoying  me  into  this  distant  country,  to  cultivate  my 
acquaintance,  you  will  find  yourself  mistaken.  I  will  die 
first !  " 

"  Shall  I  smite  the  Philistine  ?  "  said  one  of  Gilfort's  over- 
zealous  followers,  drawing  his  sword. 

"Yes,  let  him  smite,"  said  Sarah.  "He  will  see  that  I 
have  the  courage  to  die,  before  admitting  such  a  man  to  my 
acquaintance.  The  God  who  gave  me  my  being  will  take  it 
to  himself,  ere  he  will  suffer  it  to  feel  the  contamination  of 
such  influence." 

A  frown  from  Gilfort  was  sufficient  to  hasten  the  fellow's 
sword  into  its  scabbard  again,  and  to  send  him  in  confusion 
behind  the  scene. 

"  My  dear  Sarah,  how  can  you  repel  such  condescension?  " 
said  Mrs.  Marmot. 

Nervous  or  mental  illusions  are  far  more  common  than  the 
sober,  orderly  portion  of  the  community  are  willing  to  be- 
lieve. Though  our  story  comes  far  short  of  the  facts  daily 
told  of  spiritual  rappings  and  intercourse  with  the  dead, 
or  of  kindred  manifestations  in  every  age,  yet  it  must  to 
many  appear  improbable.  Fiction  on  this  subject,  to  chal- 


MORE    WORK    FOR    THE    MAINE    LAW. 

lenge  belief,  must  stop  short  of  fact.  To  account  for  these 
phenomena  may  be  difficult.  That  there  is  a  real  power  in 
mesmerism  over  the  nervous  system,  and  also  to  produce  men- 
tal illusions,  it  is  now  generally  conceded.  Some,  of  course, 
are  more  susceptible  than  others,  and  the  manifestations  are 
in  no  two  cases  perhaps  exactly  alike:  But  still  there  are 
lines  of  resemblance  throughout.  Alcohol  is  another  and 
still  more  powerful  agent  in  generating  mental  illusions.  In 
the  earlier  stages,  it  raises  pleasing  fancies  in  the  mind, —  of 
riches,  splendor,  luxury,  power,  angelic  loveliness,  and  super- 
human grandeur.  But,  as  the  disease  progresses,  these  are 
turned  into  deformities,  devils,  wasps,  spiders,  and  the  most 
horrible  monsters,  investing  the  patient,  as  in  a  case  of  delir- 
ium tremens.  All  these  nervous  disturbances  affecting  the 
mind,  whether  leading  to  profanity  or  to  prayer,  to  the  inter- 
course of  angels  or  devils,  fall  under  the  same  category.  In 
the* case  of  Gilfort,  mesmerism,  alcohol,  education,  habit, 
constitution  and  favoring  circumstances,  all  united  to  cast  his 
own  mental  illusions  into  a  fixed  and  most  unique  form  ;  and, 
being  united  with  great  shrewdness  and  concentration,  he  had 
the  power  of  casting  other  minds,  of  a  given  constitution,  into 
the  same  form,  and  thus  of  generating  a  new  spiritual  dis- 
ease, and  a  new  school  of  patients  to  propagate  the  infection 
among  men.  Mrs.  Marmot,  and  her  husband  with  her,  were 
dupes,  and  doubtless  perfectly  sincere.  In  the  deception 
practised  with  Miss  Harcourt,  they  simply  carried  out  the 
will  of  another,  which  to  them  had  become  the  supreme  law 
of  right  and  wrong. 

The  scene  just  described  took  place  in  the  open  prairie,  on 
the  day  of  their  arrival  at  Sylvan  Creek.  They  had  stopped 
to  refresh ;  and,  after  they  had  done  so,  they  took  up  their 
line  of  march,  bearing  due  west,  being  conducted  by  Gilfort 


400  MAPLETON;    OR, 

and  his  company  for  some  distance.  Miss  Harcourt,  in  a 
state  of  mind  better  imagined  than  described,  mechanically- 
moved  forward  with  them,  because  no  alternative  was  left  her. 
She  was  happy,  at  length,  to  be  relieved  of  Gilfort's  pres- 
ence, by  his  bearing  off  diagonally  to  the  south-west,  and 
soon  disappearing.  He  left  Sarah  and  the  Marmots  an  am- 
ple supply  of  servants  for  their  new  establishment.  It 
proved  to  be  a  neat  and  elegantly  furnished  Swiss  cottage, 
situated  in  the  shade  of  a  small  wood,  which  stood  like  an 
island  in  the  midst  of  a  green  meadow-sea. 

Miss  Harcourt  was  too  much  fatigued  to  take  much  notice 
of  the  place,  and  too  much  agitated  in  mind  to  be  interested 
in  anything  about  her.  She  saw  she  was  among  fanatics  and 
madmen,  who  were  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  the  plead- 
ings of  humanity.  The  mask  was  now  thrown  off,  because 
they  found  no  further  occasion  for  wearing  it.  Their  wine 
potations  were  deep  and  frequent,  and  they  were  all  the  time 
under  its  disguising  influence.  It  was  a  home  of  mesmeric, 
alcoholic  insanity.  Sarah  repaired  at  once  to  the  room  as- 
signed her,  to  seek  the  repose  she  felt  she  needed,  but  which 
her  anomalous  position  did  not  permit  her  at  once  to  enjoy. 

She  queried  with  herself,  "  Can  it  be  possible  that  my 
father  knew  the  kind  of  people  to  whom  he  committed  me  ? 
Did  he  mistrust  their  obsequiousness  to  Gilfort  ?  No,  no ! 
he  knew  the  vileness  of  that  man  as  well  as  I.  He  is  inca- 
pable of  so  base  an  act.  Did  he  know  my  present  situation, 
he  would  be  driven  to  madness.  0,  my  Father  in  heaven, 
the  trial  of  trials  has  come !  —  come  in  the  form  least  ex- 
pected, least  prepared  for,  least  endurable, —  in  this  wilder- 
ness country,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  my  natural 
protectors,  among  those  whose  teeth  are  spears  and  arrows, 
and  their  tongue  a  sharp  sword ;  whose  fanaticism  is  an  un- 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        401 

fathomable  gulf,  that  swallows  up  faith,  sincerity,  honor,  every 
kindly  sympathy  and  every  virtuous  sentiment,  and  whose 
intemperance  makes  them  demons  !  My  head  is  giddy ;  my 
heart  aches ;  I  sink, —  I  die  !  "  And,  throwing  herself  on  a 
sofa,  she  remained  for  some  time  in  a  condition  of  dreamy 
horror,  of  which  she  could  give  no  exact  account. 

Her  nature,  having  exhausted  its  sensations  of  woe,  gradu- 
ally recovered  its  tone,  and  she  began  to  take  more  just  views 
of  her  condition.  She  reflected  that,  whatever  wrong  had 
been  done,  she  was  guiltless,  and  it  became  her,  as  a  Chris- 
tian woman,  to  commit  herself  to  a  covenant-keeping  God, 
the  same  as  to  a  sickness,  or  any  other  misfortune.  The 
Providence  that  had  brought  the  trial  had  his  own  modes  of 
deliverance.  To  rail  and  embitter  her  feelings  against  the 
wicked  instruments  of  her  suffering,  instead  of  mitigating, 
increased  its  poignancy.  Considerations  like  these  occurred, 
but  not  with  entire  relief,  because  she  was  haunted  with  tor- 
menting fears  for  the  future.  It  was  not  the  fear  of  poverty, 
disease  or  death,  but  the  more  terrible  evil  of  personal  insult. 
She  was  in  the  power  of  one  who,  to  her  view,  was  the  incar- 
nation of  evil,  fraud,  fanaticism,  rapine,  violence  and  mur- 
der ;  and  the  difficulties  investing  her  seemed  a  turbulent  sea, 
without  a  bottom  or  a  shore.  Wild  and  dreadful  conjectures 
as  to  what  might  befall  her  tortured  her  imagination  with 
ideas  more  tormenting  than  the  reality  of  death  itself. 

To  whom  could  she  appeal,  but  to  Infinite,  to  Parental 
Love  ?  To  a  late  hour  of  the  night  she  continued  this  appeal. 
"  Faith,  faith !  "  she  said,  "  shall  I  preach  faith  and  not 
practise  it  ?  Ah,  the  hour  of  trial  proves  the  strength  of  a 
principle  !  Shall  I  fail  in  the  ordeal  ?  Are  not  my  Father's 
promises  sure  1  Are  they  not  equal  to  any  crisis  ?  Lord,  I 
believe, — help  thou  my  unbelief!  " 
34* 


402  MAPLETON;   OR, 

Nor  were  thoughts  and  devotions  like  these  without  their 
effect.  Her  heart  again  dilated  with  hope.  "  Victory,  vic- 
tory !  my  victory  is  in  my  faith.  Lord,  the  assurance  that 
thou  wilt  be  with  me  is  all  I  ask.  Thy  presence  is  hope  in 
despair,  joy  in  grief,  happiness  in  death."  She  came  to  feel 
it  a  mere  point  of  difference  whether  she  were  in  one  place  or 
another,  among  friends  or  foes,  in  comfort  or  discomfort,  so 
that  God  filled  and  overwhelmed  her  with  a  sense  of  his 
presence.  In  this  state  of  mind  she  laid  down,  and  slept 
sweetly  till  morning.  And,  upon  awaking,  her  first  aspiration 
was,  "  How  precious  are  thy  thoughts  unto  me,  0,  God  !  how 
great  is  the  sum  of  them !  If  I  should  count  them,  they  are 
more  in  number  than  the  sand !  When  I  awake,  I  am  still 
with  thee." 

It  was  yet  early.  She  walked  out  to  contemplate  the 
scenery  of  her  prison.  She  extended  her  walk  quite  round 
the  wood  in  which  the  cottage  was  built,  and  could  see  nothing 
in  any  direction  but  a  boundless  sea  of  waving  grass.  The 
wood  was  full  of  birds,  as  if  all  the  feathered  songsters,  to 
which  the  surrounding  prairie  furnished  subsistence,  had  con- 
gregated there  for  the  convenience  of  nests  and  roosts,  so  that 
their  infinitely  variegated  notes  floated  in  the  breezes,  and 
sent  up  to  heaven  the  sweet  warblings  of  their  bird-song.  It 
was  such  a  scene  as  she  had  never  contemplated.  Its  sub- 
limity, beauty,  joyousness,  were  unspeakable,  unknown. 

To  add  to  the  enchantment  of  the  place,  a  lovely  little 
brook,  unlike  any  she  had  seen  in  the  prairie  country,  be- 
cause it  was  limpid,  pellucid  and  babbling  flowed,  at  her  feet. 
Its  movement  was  brisk,  affording  an  ample  supply  of 
delicious  water,  which  here  reposed  in  little  ponds  fit  for  bath- 
ing ;  there  rippling  and  wandering  among  the  smooth  stones,  it 
exposed  its  beauties  to  view ;  while  there  again,  it  modestly 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        403 

concealed  itself  in  the  tall  prairie  grass.  Sarah  yielded  to  the 
adoring  outburst  of  her  feelings,  exclaiming,  "This  is  truth, 
this  is  nature ;  it  cannot  deceive ;  it  is  God's  handiwork- 
manship;  it  is  a  relic  of  Eden;  it  is  pencilled  by  infinite 
love  !  The  sight  of  it  is  worth  all  my  troubles,  all  my  fears  !  " 

Sarah  returned  to  her  room  and  locked  it,  resolved  to  have 
no  intercourse  with  a  family  who  had  shown  themselves  so 
utterly  base  and  unworthy  of  her  confidence.  At  the  hour 
of  breakfast,  Mrs.  Marmot  knocked  at  the  door,  but  Sarah 
refused  to  open  it. 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  tenderly,  "  you  must 
have  your  breakfast.  You  will  make  yourself  sick.  You 
must  have  refreshment,  after  so  long  a  journey." 

"  The  loss  of  my  breakfast,  Madam,  is  a  trifling  cause  of 
sickness,  compared  with  the  loss  of  my  liberty." 

"  My  dear  Sarah,  can  you  say  you  have  lost  your  liberty? 
Have  we  not  left  you  free  as  air  at  every  step  you  have 
taken?" 

"It  was  the  liberty  of  deceit,  Madam;  the  liberty  of  a 
bird  decoyed  into  a  snare.  You  are  guilty  of  abduction,  and 
now  hold  me  as  your  prisoner.  It  is  useless  for  you  to  plead 
innocence.  If  you  think  a  breakfast  so  necessary  to  my 
health,  bring  it  here.  I  shall  not  breakfast  out  of  my  room." 

Mrs.  Marmot  left,  therefore,  and  soon  returned  with  her 
husband,  bringing  her  breakfast. 

"  I  understand,  Miss  Harcourt,  that  you  charge  us  with 
your  abduction,"  said  Mr.  Marmot. 

"  I  do  !  You  have  brought  me  here  stealthily,  knowing  1 
would  not  come,  if  I  understood  the  circumstances." 

"  We  have  done  nothing  without  your  father's  order."* 

"  That  cannot  be  !  My  father  would  never  intentionally 
deal  with  me  thus." 


404  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

"  My  dear,"  said  Marmot  to  his  wife,  "  bring  Mr.  Har- 
court's  letters." 

The  letters  were  brought,  and  now,  for  the  first  time,  Sarah 
learned  the  object  her  father  had  in  view  in  taking  her  to 
"Wyoming.  The  agency  of  Skampton  in  the  business  was  also 
revealed.  As  to  that  of  Gilfort  she  was  left  to  conjecture, 
though  she  did  not  doubt  it.  She  was  perfectly  thunder- 
struck, especially  at  the  part  her  father  had  acted. 

"You  see,"  said  Mr.  Marmot,  "that  I  stipulated  with 
your  father  for  the  entire  control  of  your  person.  And  here 
he  concedes  it,"  reading  the  following  from  one  of  the  letters : 
"  From  the  high  character  I  have  received  of  you,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  conceding  to  you,  for  the  time  being,  the  entire 
control  of  my  daughter's  person,  as  that  seems  a  necessary 
condition  to  the  cure  of  her  malady." 

"That  must  be  a  forgery,  like  my  letters  from  Terrace- 
green  !  "  said  Sarah,  who  had  examined  and  satisfied  herself 
that  the  letters  purporting  to  come  from  her  father  at  that 
place  were  spurious. 

"  How  can  you  affirm  that  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Marmot.  "  Ex- 
amine the  letter,  and  you  will  find  every  mark  about  it  in 
your  father's  own  peculiar  style."  Sarah  did  so,  and  was 
forced  to  believe  that  it  was  genuine. 

"  But  those  from  Terracegreen  are  certainly  forgeries." 

"  That  suspicion  of  yours.  Miss.  Harcourt,  must  be  errone- 
ous," said  Marmot,  examining  the  letters,  'j  They  were 
written  by  the  same  hand  that  wrote  the  others." 

"  Then  my  father  will  be  here  soon,  according  to  his 
promise  ?  " 

' '  Yes,  unless  he  wishes  longer  to  detain  you  here.  He 
has  a  high  opinion  of  the  colony  and  its  leader." 

"  You  are  certainly  deceived  as  to  my  father's  feelings  on 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  405 

that  subject.  I  have  heard  him  express  a  contrary  opinion, 
over  and  over  again." 

"  Well,  he  ought  to  have,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  earnestly. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  dispute  with  you  on  any  of  these  points," 
said  Sarah.  "  Admitting  all  you  say  to  be  true,  I  am  of 
age,  and  my  father  has  no  right  to  dispose  of  my  person  in 
this  way.  I  implore  you,  Mr.  Marmot,  by  the  honor  of  a 
gentleman,  to  conduct  me  home." 

"  But  he  has  a  right  to  influence  your  choice  of  a  husband." 

"  No,  not  by  such  means.  Besides,  it  is  impossible  for 
him  to  succeed  in  this  way.  I  am  now  more  fixed  than  ever. 
And,  whatever  be  your  views  concerning  me,  I  feel  it  my  duty 
to  say,  at  once,  you  will  be  disappointed.  I  will  die  before  I 
violate  my  own  heart's  dictates.  If  you  keep  me  here  an 
age,  you  will  find  yourself  no  nearer  your  object.  Deceive 
not  yourself."  This  she  said  to  Marmot  alone,  hoping  that 
he  might  be  somewhat  less  insane  than  his  wife. 

{ '  I  have  no  control  in  this  matter.  I  only  obey  the  powers 
that  be,  which  you  know  we  are  commanded  to  do." 

"  And  a  righteous  power  it  is,"  said  Mrs.  Marmot,  de- 
voutly. 

"  What !  you  apply  this  language  to  that  wicked  Gilfort !  " 
said  Sarah,  with  a  shudder.  "  How  can  persons  of  your 
sense  fail  to  see  the  absurdity  of  calling  this  treatment  of  .me 
a  righteous  act  ?  Is  a  fraud  righteous  ?  Is  lying  righteous  ? 
You  deceived  me  in  the  motives  for  taking  this  journey.  It 
has  been  throughout  a  system  of  falsehood.  And  now  you 
hold  me  here  against  my  will,  and  call  it  righteous.  Woe  to 
them  that  call  evil  good !  " 

"  What  standard  have  we  of  right  and  wrong,  but  the  will 
of  God?  "  said  Marmot.  "  Does  that  deserve  the  name  of 


406  MAPLETON;  OR, 

fraud  and  lying  which  He  commands  ?  Was  it  fraud  in  Israel 
to  borrow  the  ornaments  of  the  Egyptians  1 " 

"  Do  you  undertake  to  say  you  have  a  special  dispensation 
from  heaven  to  treat  me  thus  ?  If  so,  my  opinion  of  you  is 
lower  than  ever,  and  your  influence  over  me  is  gone.  I  wish 
to  hear  no  more." 

Still  their  attention  to  her  was  unremitted.  They  never  con- 
tradicted her  in  anything.  This  was  Gilfort's  order.  He  was 
aware  by  this  time  of  her  father's  hopeless  insanity,  and  of 
Douglass'  escape  to  foreign  parts,  and  he  felt  that  nothing  now 
remained  but  to  subdue  her  by  kindness.  Of  his  success  in 
this  he  had  not  a  doubt.  He  judged  of  her  by  those  who  had 
fallen  under  his  influence,  and  herein  was  his  mistake.  Sarah 
saw  that  a  boundless  prairie  and  the  danger  of  making  her  way 
through  a  new  and  unknown  country  were  the  least  of  the 
difficulties  that  environed  her.  She  was  fenced  around  by 
fraud,  sanctified  by  fanaticism,  and  inflamed  by  alcohol.  She 
was  held  by  a  power  which  knew  no  law  but  its  own  impulses, 
no  conscience  but  its  own  will,  and  no  discrimination  as  to  the 
means  for  accomplishing  its  purposes  but  what  regarded  the 
simple  question  of  success. 

Yea,  what  was  most  of  all  surprising  was  the  fact  testified 
to  by  Jim,  of  Gilfort's  influence  over  the  husband,  as  well  as 
the  wife,  who  now  held  Miss  Harcourt  in  durance  vile.  It 
was  a  conjugal  confidence  unbroken  by  infidelity ;  because  it 
was  an  infidelity  into  which  both  were  alike  seduced,  through 
a  mysterious  perversion  of  their  spiritual  nature.  Conscience 
—  shall  we  say  it  ?  —  dictated  the  wrong.  Alas  !  what  cannot 
this  faculty  be  coerced  into?  These  facts,  however,  were 
cautiously  concealed  from  Miss  Harcourt,  who  remained  pure 
and  serene  as  the  diamond  amid  the  filth  of  its  resting  place. 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE   MAINE   LAW.  407 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

TO   THE  RESCUE. 

"  She  says 

A  fire  dances  before  her,  and  a  sound 
Rings  ever  in  her  ear  of  armed  men."  —  TENNYSON. 

"  Where  yon  faithful  watch-fires  glow, 
Bold,  defying,  stands  the  foe  ; 
Still  the  cry  rings  through  the  night, 
Guard  to  guard  calls  out  with  might, 
'  Liberty  or  death  !  "' 

The  German  of  COLLINS. 

SOON  after  the  decent  interment  of  Mr.  Littlefield  and 
Samuel  Douglass,  a  rumor  reached  Mapleton  of  the  abduc- 
tion of  Miss  Harcourt,  and  the  fall  of  Skampton.  Of  the 
fate  of  Charles  nothing  could  be  learned  with  any  certainty. 
Letters  were  despatched,  informing  him  of  the  sad  events 
which  had  happened,  and  that  his  father  was  in  prison,  and 
desiring  him  to  come  home  immediately,  to  alleviate  the  suf- 
ferings of  his  family.  But  no  answer  came.  Mrs.  Douglass 
was  very  uneasy  concerning  him.  in  addition  to  all  her  other 
troubles,  and  therefore  besought  Mr.  Holliston  to  go  at  once 
to  Riverton,  and  learn  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  look  after  the 
interests  of  her  son.  The  woes  of  alcohol  seemed  to  be  con- 
centrated within  her  doors;  and  yet,  her  own  spirit  was 
unbroken.  Though  the  foreshadowing  of  these  calamities  had 
made  her  timid  through  life,  yet  the  reality  of  them  found  her 
cool,  collected,  and  prepared  to  do  all  that  woman  could  do  to 
mitigate  their  intensity,  and  alleviate  her  suffering  household. 
She  often  visited  and  comforted  her  husband  in  prison,  min- 


408  MAPLETON  ;    OR, 

istered  to  his  bodily  wants,  now  that  he  more  than  ever 
needed  it,  having  a  severe  cough,  and  showing  unmistakable 
signs  of  a  speedy  release  from  a  state  of  society  in  which  he 
was  so  unfitted  to  live.  She  found  him  more  himself  than  he 
had  been  for  many  years ;  so  affectionate,  s<3  bland,  so 
resigned,  and  so  reasonable  in  his  views  of  all  subjects,  and 
especially  of  his  own  wayward  career.  He  had  no  recollec- 
tion of  the  fatal  blows  which  he  dealt  at  his  wife  and  son,  but 
remembered  well  seeing  and  striking  at  a  nest  of  serpents, 
which  were  hissing,  just  ready  to  bite  him ;  and  that  he  had 
no  sooner  disposed  of  these  than  a  huge  monster  came  at  him, 
Avith  open  mouth,  and  he  levelled  him  to  the  ground.  Poor 
man  !  how  sad,  sad,  the  hallucinations  of  brandy  ! 

Mr.  Holliston  found  Mr.  Skampton  also  in  prison,  and  was 
surprised  by  the  change  which  had  come  over  him.  "  I  see," 
said  he  to  Mr.  Holliston,  "that  I  have  always  occupied  a 
false  position.  I  have  been  pursuing  the  phantom  of  reputa- 
tion and  influence.  This  has  betrayed  me  into  many  indis- 
cretions. Under  the  notion  of  being  a  conservator  of  the 
public  good,  I  have  been  promoting  the  ends  of  private 
advancement.  I  fear  I  have  acted  wrong  in  reference  to  the 
liquor  traffic.  I  have  not  been  blessed  in  it.  All  I  had  is 
gone, —  both  my  own  fortune  and  that  of  my  wife,  with  all 
my  immense  accumulations.  I  am  left  bare  of  money,  and 
bankrupt  in  friends.  None  come  to  my  relief,  and  here  I 
languish  in  prison.  I  have  injured  you,  Mr.  Holliston,  and 
your  friends.  I  have  injured  the  Douglass  family." 

"Yes, —  more  than  you  know."  said  Mr.  Holliston,  detail- 
ing to  him  the  late  facts.  Skampton  wept  at  the  recital. 

"And  Charles,  I  learn,  has  escaped  to  England,"  he  added. 
"Abused  young  man!  I  wonder  not  that  he  should  have 
charged  me  as  he  did !  I  have  been  under  a  delusion,  these 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  409 

many  years,  Mr.  Holliston,  during  which  I  have  inflicted  all 
these  injuries.  Now  the  just  retribution  returns  on  my  own 
head.  0,  that  it  may  relieve  me  of  my  guilt !  " 

Mr.  Holliston  felt  keenly  for  the  poor  man,  went  his  bail, 
and  thus  delivered  him  from  prison,  and  proffered  him  every 
service  in  his  power. 

"Mr.  Skampton,  my  heart  is  drawn  towards  you  as  never 
before,"  said  Mr.  Holliston;  -"I  have  never  seen  you  so  near 
right.  You  have  been  the  dupe  of  flattery.  Perhaps  I,  with 
your  money,  and  in  your  circumstances,  might  have  fallen  in 
the  same  way.  God's  government  is  one  of  mercy.  He  loves 
to  forgive  the  penitent.  I  am  not  your  accuser,  Mr.  Skamp- 
ton. No,  no ;  I  would  imitate  Heaven's  mercy.  I  pray  for 
a  mind  to  do  by  you  as  I  should  wish  you  to  do  by  me  had  I 
been  in  your  temptations,  and  fallen  into  your  circumstances." 

These  words  of  love  fell  like  heaven's  dews  upon  a  parched 
soil,  and  raised  in  the  crushed  heart  of  the  fallen  man  his 
first  tendency  towards  the  bloom  of  hope,  and  the  fruit  of  a 
repentance  not  to  be  repented  of. 

Mr.  Holliston  sent  the  following  letter  to  Charles  Douglass 
by  the  next  steamer,  to  urge  his  return  as  soon  as  possible. 
After  detailing  the  Mapleton  tragedy,  the  letter  adds : 

"  Miss  Harcourt  has  been  heard  from.  She  is  in  Missouri, 
whither  a  party  of  us  are  about  to  go,  to  effect  her  release. 
Mr.  Skampton  has  come  to  a  sense  of  the  greatness  of  his  sin. 
I  forgive  him,  and  I  know  you  will  when  you  learn  all.  Con- 
victed or  not,  I  do  not  think  he  intended  as  bad  as  would 
appear.  He  is  a  dupe  of  Gilfort.  It  is  torturing  to  reflect 
that  that  jewel  of  a  girl,  Miss  Harcourt,  should  be  decoyed 
into  such  hands.  Still,  we  must  not  despair.  We  hear  from 
Thomas  Bludgeon  —  who  is  now  encamping  in  the  neighbor- 
35 


410  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

hood  where  she  is  —  everything  to  encourage  the  hope  of  Tier 
speedy  and   safe   release.     You   must  keep  up   heart,  and 
hope.     Everything  demands  your  immediate  return. 
,       "Your  affectionate  and  devoted  friend, 

"D.  H." 

The  party  who  went  to  the  rescue  of  Miss  Harcourt  was 
De  Lisle,  with  the  sheriff,  Mr.  Holliston  and  Mr.  Skampton. 
De  Lisle  felt  too  much  interest  for  Harcourt,  who  was  now 
hopelessly  insane,  and  also  for  the  rescue  of  his  dear  young 
friend,  to  intrust  the  e*ftterprise  to  other  hands.  He  took  it 
upon  himself  to  head  the  party,  and  was  legally  intrusted 
with  the  guardianship  of  the  Harcourt  interests  during  the 
insanity  of  the  father  and  the  absence  of  the  daughter. 

Meantime,  Gilfort  watched  every  avenue  to  his  caged  bird. 
His  colonial  home  was  some  miles  south  of  the  house  and 
grove  occupied  by  the  Marmots.  But  he  visited  them  daily, 
sometimes  in  the  uniform  of  a  major-general,  and  sometimes 
in  the  cassock  of  a  priest ;  thus  grotesquely  blending,  in  his 
dress  and  equipage,  the  most  opposite  and  ludicrous  extremes. 
He  generally  rode  in  a  carriage  brilliant  in  its  platings  of 
the  precious  metals,  drawn  by  fine  horses,  and  attended  by  a 
platoon  of  servants  in  uniform,  to  protect  his  person,  execute 
his  behests,  and  give  an  air  of  royal  state  to  his  movements. 

The  public  are  little  aware  of  the  heterogeneous  elements 
which  our  vast  interior  prairies  bring  together.  All  possible 
ideas  of  social  organization  and  of  religious  opinion  there  seek 
to  embody  themselves  under  the  forms  of  colonial  life.  High- 
born and  low-born  aspirants  to  dominion  there  plant  the  tree 
of  their  power.  Our  continent  is  a  great  seething-pot,  into 
which  the  world's  prophets  cast  herbs  of  all  kinds,  healthful 
and  poisonous.  But  the  dangerous  compound,  we  trust,  will 


MOEE  WORK  FOE  THE  MAINE   LAW.  411 

hereafter  be  relieved  of  its  noxious  properties  by  the  ferment- 
ations of  time,  or  the  hand  of  our  future  Elishas,  doing  their 
work  truly  and  effectually,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

Now,  more  than  ever,  Gilfort  was  attentive  to  appear- 
ancesx  because  he  was  not  without  the  hope  of  winning  upon 
the  ambitious  feelings  of  Miss  Harcourt,  of  whose  real  char- 
acter he  knew  as  little  as  of  that  of  an  angel.  In  these 
visits  he  took  every  measure  to  enter  into  free  conversation 
with  her.  But  no  arts  of  his  own,  and  no  persuasions  of  the 
Marmots,  could  induce  her  either  to  leave  her  room  during 
his  presence,  or  to  admit  of  ingress  to»it.  She  never  deigned 
to  afford  him  the  sorry  gratification  of  so  much  as  looking  out 
to  see  the  splendor  of  his  equipage,  or  the  pomp  and  circum- 
stance of  his  train. 

At  length,  Gilfort  came  to  the  door  of  her  room,  and 
requested  to  be  admitted.  But  she  positively  refused. 

"  What  I  ask,  Mr.  Gilfort,  is  my  liberty,"  she  said.  "  No 
lady  could  be  expected  to  receive  as  a  friend  one  who  detained 
her  as  his  prisoner." 

"I  give  you  your  liberty,  but  with  this  condition, —  that 
you  treat  me  as  a  friend,  and  remain  under  our  charge  till 
your  father  comes  for  you,"  said  Gilfort. 

"  How  do  I  know  my  father  will  come,  can  come,  or  even 
knows  where  I  am  ?  Besides,  I  must  have  my  liberty,  to  go 
where  I  please,  and  come  when  I  please,  long  enough  to  put 
you  to  the  proof  whether  you  are  worthy  of  ny  friendship. 
I  wish  you  no  ill,  Mr.  Gilfort ;  but  it  is  not,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  possible  to  respect  you,  after  what  I  have  experienced, 
till  you  have  given  me  time  to  know  that  you  are  worthy  to 
be  respected.  Nor  would  you  ask  me,  if  your  feelings  were 
honorable." 

"It  is  useless,"  said  Gilfort.     "I  could  not  comply  with 


412  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

such  conditions,  if  I  would ;  because  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marmot 
•will  do  as  they  please ;  and  they  have  come  under  pledges  to 
your  father  to  retain  the  care  of  your  person.  This  is  their 
house.  Have  you  a  right,  as  a  conscientious  lady,  to  exclude 
their  guest?" 

"They  have  assigned  me  this  room,  and  that  gives  me  a 
right  to  say  who  I  will  admit  into  it.  I  have  referred  my 
cause  to  the  orphan's  Protector.  And  now,  Mr.  Gilfort, 
that  you  may  be  under  no  deception,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to 
inform  you  that,  impelled  by  immutable  instincts,  I  shall 
defend  the  majesty  of  my  personal  rights  with  blood.  You 
will  not  enter  my  room  except  it  be  over  my  dead  body." 

The  positive,  collected,  determined  manner  in  which  this 
was  said  was  not  without  its  effect.  With  all  his  daring 
adventures,  Gilfort  was  a  coward,  and  no  man  was  more  shy 
of  a  danger  threatening  life.  He  feared  to  encounter  one 
who  felt  such  a  poignant  sense  of  personal  insult, —  one  who 
had  resolved  to  defend  the  inviolability  of  her  person  with  the 
last  drop  of  her  life's  blood.  From  week  to  week,  therefore, 
he  delayed  extreme  measures,  hoping  his  victim  might  be 
worn  out  by  confinement,  and  come  to  easier  terms.  Every 
allurement  of  wealth,  honor  and  splendor,  was  held  out  to 
her,  even  for  the  privilege  of  a  free  conversation.  But  it 
only  increased  her  abhorrence  of  the  man  and  his  principles. 
Gilfort  made  the  mistake  of  supposing  her  selfish  as  himself, 
and  this  was  Miss  Harcourt's  salvation.  Had  he  known  her, 
he  would  have  employed  force  at  the  outset ;  for  then  he 
would  have  understood  the  futility  of  all  other  means. 

Failing  in  these  measures,  Gilfort  brought  himself  to  be- 
lieve that  force  was  indispensable;  and,  not  choosing  to 
encounter  the  danger  of  breaking  his  way  alone  into  Miss 
Harcourt's  room,  he  brought  with  him  a  troop  of  sufficient 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.       413 

size  to  encircle  the  house,  hoping  -to  terrify  her  into  sub- 
mission. He  proposed  that  Sarah  should  peaceably  resign 
herself  to  him,  with  this  pledge,  that  she  should  be  treated  in 
all  respects  becoming  her  womanly  sanctity. 

"If  you  do  not  yield  to  this  reasonable  demand,"  he  said, 
"  I  will  order  my  men  to  break  down  your  door,  and  put  you 
in  my  power  in  a  way  to  prevent  your  doing  violence  to  your- 
self or  me ;  and,  if  you  fall  into  my  hands  thus,  I  shall  be 
relieved  of  all  pledges." 

"  It  is  vain  for  you  to  address  me  thus,"  said  Sarah.  "  I 
should  be  as  safe  in  your  hands  without  your  pledges  as  with 
them.  I  shall  not  resign  myself.  I  will  die  first.  This  is 
the  boon  that  heaven  grants  me  in  the  choice  of  evils  so  ex- 
treme. Death,  or  immunity  against  your  perfidy." 

"What!  you  a  Christian,  and  die  by  your  own  hand!" 
said  Gilfort. 

"No,  not  by  my  hand,  but  by  the  nrffians  who  attempt 
to  force  me  into  yours.  I  am  now  free, —  personally  free, 
though  confined  within  these  walls ;  and  I  appeal  to  God  who 
made  me.  and  the  Saviour  who  died  for  me,  to  second  my 
efforts  to  keep  myself  so  at  the  price  of  blood.  Whoever 
enters  this  room  without  my  consent  must  pay  the  penalty." 

This  announcement  struck  dismay  into  the  hearts  of 
Gilfort's  followers.  They  felt  the  majesty  of  virtue  incensed, 
virtue  driven  to  the  last  extreme  for  its  own  protection,  and 
had  no  more  desire  than  he  to  fall  by  the  hands  of  a  woman. 
All  this  time  the  eyes  of  Sarah  were  imploringly  directed  to 
heaven,  awaiting  deliverance  from  Him  in  whom  was  all  her 
trust.  Though  compelled  to  keep  her  enemies  at  bay  by  this 
decisive  manner,  she  felt  how  remote  her  feelings  were  from 
bitterness  towards  them  or  any  human  creature,  and  how 
freely  she  would  sacrifice  anything  in  their  behalf,  except 
35* 


414  MAPLETON;    OR, 

that  purity  which  was  given  her  as  a  shield,  that  virtue  with- 
out which  life  would  lose  all  its  charms,  and  existence  all  that 
makes  it  desirable. 

It  was  with  difficulty  that  G-ilfort  rallied  his  panic-struck 
followers  to  the  assault.  Overmastered  at  last  by  his  author- 
ity, they  began  to  deal  their  blows  on  the  outside  of  the 
building  opposite  to  Miss  Harcourt's  room,  deeming  that  less 
hazardous  than  forcing  the  door.  Clapboard  after  clapboard 
was  torn  off,  and  a  way  was  soon  opened  into  her  apartment 
of  sufficient  size  to  admit  a  man,  when  Gilfort  ordered  one  of 
his  men  to  enter ;  but  he  hesitated.  He  gave  the  same  order 
to  another,  who  also  declined.  All  were  equally  unwilling  to 
encounter  a  danger  so  imminent  as  that  of  entering  the 
scanctuary  of  virtue  incensed  and  armed  for  resistance  to  the 
death.  It  was  now  dark.  Clouds  overcast  the  scene,  and 
veiled  the  starry  expanse.  0,  night,  night !  how  horrible  the 
crime  and  misery  which  thy  mantle  enfolds !  Thy  magio 
influence  soothes  some  to  rest,  and  arouses  others  to  deeds  of 
blood  !  To  the  last  Sarah  maintained  her  confidence.  She 
believed  that  God  would  send  deliverance. 

Nor  was  her  hope  in  vain.  Deliverance  came.  The  noise 
of  nimble  feet  proclaimed  its  approach.  De  Lisle  and 
his  party  had  arrived  that  very  day,  and  had  called  to  their 
aid  Bludgeon,  with  a  band  of  his  sturdy  yeomanry.  Canau- 
deh,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  was  also  there  to  join  the  company. 
He  had  abandoned  Terracegreen  after  the  Harcourts  left,  and 
gone  to  the  hunting-grounds  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Here 
he  heard  of  Sarah's  captivity,  and  watched  his  opportunity  to 
join  in  her  rescue.  His  young  blood  seemed  to  return,  and, 
painted  and  bedecked  with  the  Indian  habiliments  of  war,  he 
proudly  marched  among  the  first,  brandishing  his  weapons  of 
death,  his  gray  locks  and  towering  crest  waving  in  the  winds. 


MORE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        415 

The  assailing  party  rushed  to  the  onset,  headed  by  the  sheriff, 
who  stated,  or  tried  to  state,  the  commission  under  which  he 
acted,  but  was  repelled  and  silenced  by  the  onset  of  Gilfort 
and  his  men.  The  melee  now  became  universal.  Bludgeon 
spirited  his  men,  doing  fearful  execution  on  the  foe.  He  was 
in  his  element,  though,  on  principle,  he  had  chosen  another 
field  for  his  prowess,  from  which  nothing  but  an  emergency 
like  this  could  have  drawn  him.  But  still  he  retained  a  mar- 
vellously home  feeling  in  the  midst  of  carnal  weapons,  and 
the  tumult  of  deadly  onset.  He  broke  like  a  tempest  upon 
Gilfort's  party.  Club  responded  to  club,  and  dagger  to 
dagger.  Exploding  guns  resounded  upon  the  canopy  of 
night.  Wounds  multiplied,  blood  flowed,  groans  were  heard 
in  the  darkness,  and  grim-visaged  death  shook  his  fiery 
dart. 

De  Lisle,  with  the  sheriff  by  his  side,  pushed  his  way 
through  the  contending  multitude  to  the  post  occupied  by 
Gilfort  himself.  The  latter,  seeing  his  danger  of  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  law,  rushed  on  the  officer,  dagger  in  hand, 
and  would  have  killed  him  upon  the  spot,  had  not  De  Lisle 
interposed  and  plunged  his  gleaming  steel  into  his  side,  when 
he  fell  palpitating  to  the  ground.  Exasperated  to  the  last 
extreme  by  this  event,  his  followers,  thirsting  for  vengeance, 
were  like  a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps,  and  employed  their 
weapons  with  deadly  effect.  What  with  the  war-whoop  of 
Canaudeh,  the  wailings  of  the  wounded  and  dying,  the  ex- 
plosion of  fire-arms,  and  the  fierce  encounter  of  men  fighting 
hand  to  hand  in  the  darkness,  it  was  altogether  a  scene  of 
horror  not  easily  described  or  conceived.  The  Gilfort  party 
at  length  gave  way,  overpowered  by  numbers,  and  took  to 
flight, — the  Marmots,  servants  and  all,  leaving  Miss  Harcourt 
the  sole  occupant  of  the  house. 


416  MAPLETON;  OR; 

She  immediately  rushed  out,  lamp  in  hand,  to  do  what  she 
could  to  alleviate  the  suffering  company.  Who  should  she 
meet  but  De  Lisle,  covered  with  blood.  Stretching  out  his 
arms,  he  exclaimed,  "My  dear  Miss  Harcourt,  you  are  safe, 
and  I  am  happy!  " 

"0,  Mr.  De  Lisle!"  she  exclaimed;  "  my  friend,  my 
benefactor  !  —  all  bloody  1  you  are  wounded !  " 

"  Only  slightly,  Miss  Harcourt,"  said  De  Lisle;  "do  not 
be  alarmed." 

They  had  not  ceased  speaking  before  Canaudeh  came 
forward,  and  seized  Sarah  by  both  her  hands,  and,  with 
sounds  which  had  no  meaning  to  any  but  himself,  spoke  love, 
spoke  gratitude,  spoke  eloquence  that  went  to  the  soul. 

"  Canauden !  Canaudeh!"  exclaimed  Sarah,  in  perfect 
astonishment ;  "  is  it  you  ?  is  it  you  ?  " 

"  My  dear  Miss  Harcourt,"  said  Mr.  Skampton,  who  .lay 
near,  weltering  in  his  blood,  ' l  can  you  forgive  me, —  me,  so 
deeply  implicated  in  this  foul  transaction  ?  " 

This  first  sight  of  Charles'  enemy  in  such  a  plight,  she  had 
reason  to  believe  for  her  sake,  was  all  the  apology  or  expla- 
nation she  demanded.  Taking  his  feeble  hand  in  her  own, 
she  kissed  it  tenderly,  and  poured  upon  it  her  warm  tears,  to 
express  feelings  of  which  words  are  a  poor  index.  • 

"  Can  you  forgive  me  ?  "  repeated  Skampton,  faintly. 

"  Forgive,  Mr.  Skampton  ?  0,  that  is  too  cold  !  I  love, 
I  cherish,  I  honor  the  man  who  was  willing  to  suffer  all  this 
for  my  sake." 

"  Then  I  die  happy,"  said  Skampton,  with  a  smile  of 
sweet  serenity,  and  who  was  really  happier  at  that  moment, 
in  his  efforts  to  atone  for  the  errors  of  the  past,  than  he  had 
been  for  many  years.  No  one  is  so  much  to  be  pitied  as  he 
who  is  deluded  into  assuming  such  responsibilities  as  Skamp- 


MOKE  WORK  FOE  THE  MAINE  LAW.       417 

ton  had  so  long  stood  under ;  no  one  so  much  to  be  envied  as 
a  genuinely  broken  heart  and  contrite  spirit. 

"Mr.  De  Lisle,"  said  Sarah,  "-where  is  my  father?  Is 
he  here  ?  " 

"  He  is  ill,  and  could  not  come;  but  I  have  brought  one  in 
his  place,"  replied  De  Lisle,  beckoning  to  Mr.  Holliston,  who 
had  just  that  moment  reached  the  scene  of  action. 

"  My  dear  Sarah,"  said  the  venerable  man,  taking  her  by 
the  hand  and  kissing  her  with  parental  tenderness,  "  how 
thankful  I  am  to  meet  you  once  more  alive !  " 

"  Most  happy,  most  happy  to  meet  you,  Mr.  Holliston. 
Is  papa  very  ill  ?  "  inquired  Sarah,  with  much  concern. 

"In  no  danger  of  life,"  said  Mr.  Holliston,  the  party 
having  agreed  not  to  make  an  immediate  disclosure  of  the 
real  facts  in  the  case,  hoping  still  that  Mr.  Harcourt  might 
recover  his  reason,  and  anxious  to  -save  the  feelings  of  his 
daughter  in  so  trying  a  moment. 

"  Where  is  Charles,  Mr.  Holliston  1 " 

"  Gone  to  England  to  recreate  himself;  but  I  have  written 
him,  and  I  think  he  will  soon  return." 

"  How  are  Mapleton  friends  1  " 

On  this  point,  also,  Mr.  Holliston  deemed  it  advisable  to 
answer  evasively  till  her  mind  should  be  better  prepared  for 
the  dreadful  intelligence.  All  were  much  aifected  at  the 
condition  of  Skampton,  whom  they  had  dissuaded  from 
exposing  himself  to  danger,  but  whose  zeal  to  repair  the 
wrongs  which  he  had  done  had  withstood  all  their  arguments. 
Those  who  had  escaped  unhurt  now  devoted  their  attention  to 
the  wounded.  Thus,  this  home  of  fanaticism  and  malignity 
was  converted  into  a  hospital,  where  humanity  wept  over  a 
brother's  woes,  and  mercy  exerted  her  healing  power. 
Bludgeon  was  specially  attentive  to  Skampton,  and  both  won- 


418  MAPLETON ;    OR, 

« 

clered  that  they  had  remained  so  long  ignorant  of  each  other's 
excellences,  and  now  became  united  in  the  closest  tjpntjs. 

The  whole  company  agreed  in  one  thing,  that  alcohol  was, 
directly  or  indirectly,  the  procuring  cause  of  these  tragic, 
scenes.  Alcohol  had  driven  Harcourt  mad.  Alcohol  had 
precipitated  the  good  Mr.  Littlefield  upon  an  untimely  death. 
Alcohol  had  sacrificed  Samuel  Douglass.  Alcohol  had  nearly 
proved  the  ruin  of  Charles.  Alcohol  then  held  his  father  in 
durance  vile  as  the  murderer  of  his  own  son,  and  had  planted 
the  seeds  of  a  certain  and  premature  death  in  his  excellent 
constitution.  Alcohol  was  at  the  foundation  of  Gilfort's 
character,  and  of  most  of  the  evils  which  he  had  done.  And 
these  were  but  the  beginning  of  the  "woes  with  which  it  had 
deluged  society. 

One  happy*  effect  of  this  meeting  of  extremes  was  to 
temper  the  ultraisms  of  each ;  and  even  Bludgeon  gave  up 
his  wild  scheme  of  founding  a  colony  to  live  on  herbs,  and 
thankfully  received  every  creature  of  God  as  good,  and 
nothing  to  be  refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving. 
Skampton  became  henceforth  an  earnest  temperance  man, 
and  a  yoke-fellow  of  Bludgeon  in  securing  the  passage  of  the 
Maine  Law.  Even  the  Marmots  returned  in  a  few  days  to 
the  cottage,  confessed  their  guilty  delusion,  and  did  all  they 
could  to  repair  the  evil  done.  Thus,  more  familiar  acquaint- 
ance, on  terms  of  amity  and  reciprocal  alleviation,  revealed, 
what  they  had  never  before  suspected,  that  the  constitutional 
peculiarities  of  each  were  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the 
whole. 


MORE  WOKK  FOE  THE  MAINE  LAW.       419 

• 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

.    THE   VICTORY. 

"  For  he  to  drink  had  yielded  up 
His  intellect  and  noble  strength  ; 
And  now  the  demon  of  the  cup, 
Exulting,  claimed  his  prey  at  length."  — TAPPAH. 

"  0,  friend,  that  fainted  in  the  noontide  !  first 
In  heaven  thy  fevered  heart  forgets  to  thirst." 

MARY  IRVING. 

So  long  was  the  delay  of  Miss  Harcourt  at  Sylvan  Creek, 
that  she  did  not  reach  her  home  in  New  York  till  a  few  days 
previous  to  the  return  of  Douglass  from  England.  Their 
meeting  was  a  sweet  star  shining  upon  a  night  of  sorrow. 
Both  were  overwhelmed  with  gloom,  in  all  but  their  relations 
to  each  other, —  Charles  from  family  affliction,  and  Sarah 
from  the  insanity  of  her  father.  He  had  not  yet  recognized 
her  as  his  daughter.  He  was  constantly  uneasy, —  wanting 
something,  he  knew  not  what, —  and  no  expedient  could  he 
devised  to  compose  his  mind  and  body.  He  would  say  to 
her,  in  thick  and  broken  accents,  "  Madam,  do  you  hear  of 
my  daughter  1  Come,  John,  get  my  hat,  cloak  and  staff; 
let  us  go  and  find  Sarah." 

"Father,  lam  Sarah.  Do  you  not  know  me,  father?" 
replied  his  daughter,  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 

"  Yes,  ay,  well ;  I  must  go  and  look  for  her.  John,  I  tell 
you,"— waxing  often  very  furious, — "get  me  my  cloak; 
harness  the  grays;  come,  we  must  be  off!  " 

To  humor  his  freaks,  the  servant  would  do  as  he  com- 
manded, by  which  time  he  would  be  on  another  tack,  and 


420  HAPLE10.N ;     OR, 

there  was  no  conjecturing  one  moment  what  freak  would  take 
him  the  next.  To  Sarah  he  was  a  living  death,— a  moving, 
breathing,  and  yet  unconscious  memento  of  perished  joys. 
0,  sad,  sad  to  feel  death's  shock  in  the  mind  before  it  touches 
the  body, —  the  quenched  manhood,  but  the  living  anima'l ! 
One  power  in  Harcourt  retained  all  its  original  vigor,  and 
but  one, —  that  was  his  appetite  for  strong  drink.  That  had 
acquired  force  from  his  insanity.  Nothing  but  physical 
restraint  held  him  back  from  instant  death  by  the  bottle.  He 
seemed  to  crave  it  with  an  eager,  insatiable  thirst ;  and  they 
had  to  deal  it  out  to  him  in  stinted  measure,  as  food  to  a  con- 
valescent patient, 'his  medical  advisers  deeming  it  unsafe  to 
deny  it  to  him  altogether. 

He  had  made  free  use  of  the  cup  from  his  early  years ; 
but,  so  long  as  his  mind  retained  its  vigor,  he  never  went 
beyond  the  bounds  of  genteel  drinking.  The  man  controlled 
the  animal  so  far  as  to  keep  him  out  of  the  gutter.  He  ab- 
horred drunkards  more  than  most  men.  He  had  no  charity 
for  those  who  could  not  enjoy  the  fruit  of  the  vine  without 
making  beasts  of  themselves.  He  felt  the  more  contempt  for 
them,  perhaps,  from  the  disrepute  into  which  their  excesses 
brought  his  own  habits.  Drunkenness,  as  an  argument 
against  drinking,  always  nettled  him.  It  was  assuming  an 
affinity  between  the  two ;  whereas,  he  insisted  that  they  were 
as  wide  apart  as  midnight  and  noon.  Hence,  he  was  unmer- 
ciful to  drunkards,  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 

How  little  did  he  consider  that  the  incessant  contact  of  the 
alcoholic  cautery  with  his  nerves,  those  organs  through  which 
the  mind  acts,  was  burning  out  its  foundation,  and  preparing 
the  intellectual  superstructure  to  fall  with  a  crash.  The  ha- 
bitual use  of  alcohol  through  a  course  of  years  rarely  fails 
to  bring  on  such  a  crisis,  either  to  the  soul  or  the  body.  No 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE  MAINE   LAW.  421 

matter  how  genteel  the  use,  no  matter  how  remote  from  what 
is  called  drunkenness,  still  the  fire  burns  within,  and  in  the 
end  will  work  its  way  out,  to  bring  on  a  wreck  and  a  crash 
in  some  form,  and  to  some  extent. 

•While  Mr.  Harcourt's  mind  controlled,  he  was  a  genteel 
drinker ;  but  when  that  gave  way,  the  animal  in  him  became 
supreme.  There  was  nothing  but  the  animal  left.  All  the 
forces  of  his  being  went  to  that ;  and,  so  terrible  Avere  his 
demonstrations  of  physical  force  unguided  by  reason,  that 
they  were  at  length  compelled  to  confine  him  in  a  mad-house. 
Sarah  did  and  endured  with  all  a  daughter's  devotion,  till  her 
own  life  was  in  peril ;  and  it  was  not  withottt  many  tears  and 
misgivings  that  she  finally  resigned  him  to  those  who  could 
render  his  violence  innoxious.  Whereas,  the  alcoholic  mad- 
ness of  Charles'  father  was  periodical,  and  not  -permanent, 
that  of  Harcourt,  though  slow  in  coming,  became  the  final 
condition  of  his  earthly  being. 

To  add  to  the  affliction  of  this  drinker's  daughter,  Marldon 

—  their  attorney  —  had  taken  advantage  of  the  insanity  of 
his  client,  to  cheat  them  out  of  their  most  valuable  posses- 
sions.    The  Terracegreen   plantation  was  lost,  through  his 
neglect  and  intemperance.     After  kindling  the  conflagration 
in  Mapleton, —  yea,  after  instigating  with  his  brandy-bottle 
the  death  of  the  good  Mr.  Littlefield,  and  of  Samuel  Doug- 
lass by  the  hand  of  his  father ;  yea,  after  precipitating  the 
senior  Douglass  upon  his  own  death-bed  in  the  midst  of  his  days, 

—  this  miscreant,  this  fugitive  from  justice,  who  had  many 
times  cheated  the  gallows  of  its  rights,  returned  home  to  learn 
De  Lisle's  trusteeship  of  an  estate  of  which  he  desired  so 
much  to  have  the  fingering  himself;  and,  from  a  mixture  of 
avarice  and  revenge,  set  himself  to  the  task  of  embezzling  so 
much  of  it  as  he  could  by  any  possibility  lay  his  hands  upon. 

36 


422  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

By  forged  documents  and  false  papers,  which  De  Lisle  had 
no  means  of  disproving,  in  Mr.  Harcourt's  present  state  of 
insanity,  Marldon  actually  took  away  the  maternal  inherit- 
ance of  Sarah,  one  of  the  most  valuable  country-seats  on  the 
North  River.  She  had  left  her  only  her  personal  property, 
and  stocks  to  a  limited  extent.  This  was  an  evil  over  which 
she  never  shed  a  tear.  Both  she  and  Charles  were  afterwards 
convinced  that  it  was,  upon  the  whole,  the  best  thing  for 
them.  Though  not  what  they  would  have  chosen,  yet  it 
relieved  his  ministry  of  a  worldly  burden  that  might  have 
proved  fatal  to  its  success.  A  rich  minister  and  a  poor  people 
are  social  incongruities. 

Douglass  staid  in  New  York  but  a  few  days ;  long  enough, 
however,  more  than  ever  to  reciprocate  with  Sarah  the  feel- 
ing that  they  belonged  to  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world ;  and 
that,  to  drunkard's  children  at  least,  there  is  here  nothing 
but  tribulation,  whatever  of  peace  there  may  be  for  them  in 
heaven.  But,  the  more  they  were  cut  off  from  other  re- 
sources, the  more  they  were  endeared  to  each  other,  and  the 
greater  seemed  the  privilege  before  them  of  living  to  do 
good.  They  entered  into  a  solemn  compact  to  spend  their 
days  in  opposing  the  drinking  usages  and  liquor  traffic,  and 
in  doing  all  they  could  to  alleviate  others  who  should  suffer 
as  they  had  and  their  families.  The  sad  experience  of  multi- 
tudes is  what  has  given  intensity  to  the  temperance  movement 
hitherto,  and  made  it  so  effectual  in  the  lower  strata  of 
society. 

When  Charles  reached  home  he  found  his  father  out  of 
prison,  but  in  the  last  stages  of  consumption.  The  emaciated 
father  reached  out  his  shrivelled  arms  and  clasped  his  son, 
his  first-born,  and  pressed  him  to  his  bosom  with  the  warm 
glow  of  affections  mellowed  and  purified  by  approaching  death. 


MORE   WORK  FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  423 

"  0,  my  son  !  "  he  said,  "I  die  in  peace,  now  that  I  have 
received  you  once  more  to  my  arms  !  " 

"My  dearest  father,"  said  Charles,  bursting  into  tears; 
' '  have  you  suffered  all  this  ? ' ' 

"  0,  yes ;  but  none  too  much,  because  my  heavenly  Father 
saw  that  nothing  less  would  conquer  my  enemy,  and  reclaim 
to  himself  a  wayward  child.  Sweet  affliction,  sweet  afflic- 
tion, that  brings  my  Saviour  near !  " 

Charles  was  not  prepared  for  the  ravages  which  disease 
had  made  in  his  father's  strong  constitution.  It  overwhelmed 
him,  and  he  felt  that  he  must  die,  too.  That  noble  father, 
with  a  mind  originally  of  the  highest  order,  with  affections 
warm  and  generous,  refined  and  polished  by  education  and 
cultivated  society,  whose  life  had  opened  with  the  promise  of 
adorning  the  high  places  of  influence,  thus  cut  do\vn  and 
withered  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood,  by  the  alcoholic  worm 
at  the  root,  seemed  to  him  —  seemed  to  %very  one  who  con- 
templated the  scene,  in  connection  with  the  license  law  and 
the  criminal  causes  which  had  precipitated  the  evil  —  too 
much  to  be  endured.  Alas  !  alas  !  how  long  ere  this  Moloch 
shall  fail  of  his  victims  1 

"Weep  not,  my  son,"  said  the  dying  man.  "Rather 
rejoice  that  your  father  has  emerged  from  the  wilderness  in 
which  he  has  so  long  wandered,  to  enter  into  a  society  with- 
out these  temptations.  My  mind  is  healed,  Charles.  The 
body  is  dead,  but  the  phoenix  rises  from  its  ashes ;  —  yes, 
Charles,  the  phoenix  rises  from  its  ashes.  The  animal  dies, 
but  the  man  lives.  The  appetite  is  gone, —  that  canker  of 
my  life,  that  blight  of  our  home, —  gone  forever,  thanks  to 
my  adorable  Saviour !  I  have  the  victory.  My  mind  was 
never  so  clear,  my  heart  never  so  light.  My  conscience  was 
never  so  pure,  cleansed  in  atoning  blood ;  and  now  heaven 


424  MAPLETON-;     OR, 

beams  full  upon  my  view.  Dear  Sammy  is  there  waiting  to 
receive  that  father  by  whose  hand  he  died." 

"  0,  I  cannot  part  with  you,  father !  It  is  too  much,  it  is 
too  much  !  "  said  Charles,  whose  childish  feelings  seemed  to 
gush  up,  and  he  felt  that  he  could  not  part  with  one  so  ten- 
derly beloved. 

"My  son,  do  not  break  your  heart!"  said  his  mother. 
"  Do  not  think  your  father  beside  himself  in  speaking  thus. 
All  he  says,  and  much  more,  is  true.  His  soul's  life  he  finds 
in  his  body's  death.  His  heart's  warmest  affections,  purified 
by  divine  grace,  now  gush  forth,  to  leave  with  us  all  the 
richest  inheritance  that  could  be  bequeathed  to  a  family. 
That  bitter  root  of  'appetite,  which  has  hitherto  yielded  such 
a  fruitage  of  woes,  is  dead ;  and  now  the  good,  the  noble  in 
him  blooms  alone." 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  from  the  day  of  his  son's  death 
Mr.  Douglass  had«not  felt  one  desire  of  the  cup, —  no,  not 
though  alcohol  was  daily  used  about  his  person  to  lubricate  the 
skin  and  relieve  the  obstructed  pores.  He  was  thrown  into 
prison  for  the  crime  of  murder.  Here  he  suffered  so  much  in 
mind  that  his  health  gave  way,  and  a  hectic  was  induced. 
He*  gave  himself  much  to  prayer,  and  to  the  reading  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  His  wife  also  supplied  him  with  such  books 
as  she  deemed  best  suited  to  his  case.  Through  these  instru- 
mentalities, his  mind  was  restored  to  a  perfectly  healthy  state. 
He  felt  himself  forgiven,  through  a  gracious  Mediator.  He 
did  not  doubt  his  acceptance  with  God.  nor  did  others  who 
saw  him.  His  mind  assumed  its  normal  state,  and  a  healthy, 
quiet,  peaceful,  unexcited  and  resigned  feeling  of  submission 
to  divine  Providence  ensued. 

He  was  not  a  little  comforted  and  edified  in  prison  by  the 
visits  of  Patrick  Tooney,  who,  the  reader  will  be  surprised  to 


MORE  WORK   FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  425 

learn,  had  returned  to  the  town,  and  had  become  as  one  alive 
from  the  dead.  Two  of  his  daughters  had  remained  there, 
supporting  themselves  by  the  needle ;  and  through  the  influence 
of  that  good  man,  Mr.  Littlefield,  had  been  instructed  in  the 
truth,  and  admitted  to  the  church.  Their  father,  after,  utterly 
exhausting  the  forces  of  soul  and  body  in  dissipation,  returned 
to  live  out  of  their  earnings.  This  was  his  salvation ;  for  these 
good  daughters  set  about  the  work  of  his  reformation  in  good 
earnest,  not  only  inducing  him  to  take  the  temperance  pledge, 
but  insured  his  keeping  it  by  perpetual  watchfulness,  till  his 
constitution  of  body  and  mind  underwent  a  radical  change, 
and  he  too  had  become  a  Christian  and  a  church-member. 
He  had  been  originally  bred  to  the  tailoring  business,  and  had 
now  become  the  Mapleton  tailor,  and  one  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous mechanics  in  town.  This  man's  visits  were  a  real  comfort 
to  Mr.  Douglass. 

"  I,  Mr.  Tooney,"  he  would  say  to  him,  "  get  nothing  out 
of  the  alcoholic  wreck  but  the  soul,  the  principal  part.  But 
what  a  miracle  of  grace,  that  you  should  get  both  soul  and 
body !  " 

"  It 's  marcy  !  marcy,  all  marcy  !  "  said  Tooney,  with  the 
tears  of  gratitude  glistening  in  his  eyes.  He  protested  that 
his  life  was  for  the  most  part  a  blank ;  that  he  had  no  recol- 
lection of  beating  his  wife  to  death,  and  that  his  resurrection 
was  like  a  dream,  to  him,  or  like  an  event  which  had  occurred 
in  another  planet.  Thus  our  country  is  full  of  madmen  at 
large,  and  will  be,  till  a  stringent  legislation  places  the  cup 
beyond  their  reach,  and  restores  them  to  sanity. 

When  put  upon  his  trial,  Douglass  insisted,  at  first,  that 
he  would  plead  guilty.  The  fact  was  clear  that  he  had  killed 
his  son,  and  why  should  he  deny  it  1 

"  But  that  does  not  make  it  certain  that  you  are  a  mur- 
36* 


426  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

derer,"  said  his  counsel.  "The  killing  must  be  with  malice 
aforethought,  to  make  it  murder.  And  can  you,  as  an  honest 
man,  Mr.  Douglass,  affirm  that  ?  " 

"  No,  I  cannot,"  he  replied,  "  but  the  law,  I  believe, 
construes  it  so,  when  the  killing  is  induced  by  one's  voluntary 
act  in  drinking  to  intoxication.  Many  a  drunkard  has  been 
hung  for  killing  with  as  little  malice  aforethought  as  I  had. 
And  why  should  I  be  made  an  exception  ?  The  sentence  of 
death  is  upon  me,  and  what  matters  it  whether  it  be  inflicted 
by  the  hand  of  man  or  the  providence  of  God  7  " 

"  It  matters  much  to  your  family,  my  dear,"  said  Mrs. 
Douglass.  "  The  wife  and  children  of  a  man  hung, —  think  of 
that !  If  you  was  really  a  murderer,  then  we  ought  to 
submit.  But,  my  dear  George,  you  are  not ;  you  know  you 
are  not.  You  have  no  more  consciousness  than  I  have  of 
killing  our  dear  Sammy.  And,  is  it  right  for  you  to  plead 
to  a  lie,  because  the  law  sometimes  uses  it  as  a  pretext  for 
hanging  a  man  1 ' ; 

"  No,  no,  Mr.  Douglass,"  added  his  lawyer,  "  drinking  a 
glass  of  brandy,  bad  as  it  is,  is  not  murder ;  and  you  know 
that  act  deprived  you  of  your  moral  agency.  And  can  a  mere 
physical  or  animal  agent  be  guilty  of  the  crime  of  murder? " 

"  No,  you  mistake,"  said  Mr.  Douglass  ;  "it  was  not  the 
drinking,  but  the  contact  of  the  brandy,  that  made  me  insane. 
Had  not  madness  been  induced  by  this  contact,  I  should  not 
have  drank  at  all." 

These  considerations  induced  him  to  plead  not  guilty.  The 
state  then  proceeded  to  prove  the  facts  of  Samuel  Douglass' 
death,  just  as  they  were;  which  they  had  no  difficulty  in 
doing.  The  defence  set  up  the  plea  of  insanity,  and  witnesses 
were  adduced  to  prove  that  alcohol  invariably  deprived  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  of  hia  reason,  and  that  it  was  during  the 


MORE   WORK   FOR   THE   MAINE   LAW.  427 

madness  thus  induced  that  the  killing  took  place.  This  also 
was  an  easy  process. 

The  state  plead,  that  a  man  knowing  such  to  be  the  effect 
upon  him  of  taking  a  beverage,  narcotic,  or  article  of  diet,  is 
in  law  responsible  for  all  the  consequences  which  ensue  from 
taking  it;  that  half  the  murders  were  committed  under  the 
alcoholic  excitement ;  and  that,  on  the  principle  set  up  by  the 
defence,  law  has  no  redress  for  the  greater  portion  of  crimes 
on  its  docket.  It  must  leave  society  to  the  depredations  of 
this  self-induced  madness.  The  prisoner  at  the  bar  was  not 
only  bound  in  law  not  to  kill  with  malice  aforethought,  but 
not  to  put  himself  into  a  state  to  endanger  his  fellow-man  in 
property,'  limb,  or  life.  If  he  has  put  himself  into  that  state, 
and  has  taken  the  life  of  his  son  as  a  consequence,  he  stands 
before  the  law  as  a  murderer,  and  the  jury  is  bound  to  give  a 
verdict  accordingly. 

The  defence,  on  the  contrary,  thought  it  a  poor  redress 
for  the  state  to  hang  *men  who,  according  to  its  OAvn  show- 
ing, had  by  their  own  act  ceased  to  be  moral  agents  ;  and  that 
it  could  have  no  more  effect  to  deter  others  from  crime,  who 
became  insane  in  the  same  way,  than  killing  an  ox  that  gores  a 
man  to  death  can  deter  other  oxen  from  doing  the  same.  Is 
the  sacrifice  of  irresponsible  agents  a  redress  to  civil  law  ?  Is 
there  any  redress  known  to  that  law  which  is  not  a  preventive 
to  crime  1  If  we  hang  men  for  the  act  of  killing,  during  the 
paroxysms  of  alcoholic  insanity,  because  that  insanity  was 
induced  by  their  voluntary  act  in  drinking,  what  is  it  but 
hanging  them  for  getting  drunk  ?  And  yet  the  state  provides 
by  law  and  by  license  the  means  of  getting  the  people  drunk, 
wholesale  and  retail ;  and  it  seemed  to  the  defence  cruel,  after 
all  this,  for  the  state  to  hang  men  for  drinking, —  hang  them 
for  buying  at  its  licensed  tippling-shops  !  It  thought,  there- 


428  MAPLETON;     OR, 

fore,  the  jury  could  not,  in  justice  to  the  laws,  in  justice  to 
the  state,  or  in  justice  to  the  body  politic,  give  a  verdict  of 
guilty  against  George  Douglass,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar. 

As  the  court  was  about  to  commit  the  cause  to  the  jury,  the 
prisoner  was  asked  whether  he  had  anything  further  to  say- 
Whereupon,  Mr.  Douglass  rose  deliberately,  and  looked  around 
on  the  court  and  spectators  with  great  composure.  His  tall, 
manly  person,  brilliant  eye,  and  eminently  intellectual  expres- 
sion, emaciated  as  he  was  by  disease  and  pale  with  confinement, 
impressed  every  one  with  his  personal  dignity  and  superiority 
to  any  who  were  sitting  in  judgment  upon  his  life. 

"  May  it  please  the  Court  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury," 
he  said,  deliberately  and  coolly,  "little"  did  I  think  that  I 
should  come  to  this.  Born  of  parents  who  were  able  and 
ambitious  to  give  their  son  the  best  education  the  country 
affords,  I  had  advantages  above  most  others  for  reaching  a 
widely  different  destiny  from  that  to  which  I  seem  to  be 
doomed.  The  affluence  in  which  I  was  cradled  was  my  ruin. 
I  was  made  to  believe  that  it  was  manly  to  take  a  social 
glass.  I  fell  in  with  companions,  at  college  and  elsewhere, 
who  nourished  in  me  this  delusion.  Our  potations  were  deep, 
our  revels  boisterous.  I  studied  law,  but  left  my  profession 
to  look  after  my  father's  business,  which  was  of  a  nature  to 
keep  the  poisoned  cup  ever  before  me.  I  drank  till  I  had 
supplied  the  place  of  a  natural  repugnance  to  strong  drink 
with  a  maddened  appetite,  which  defied  control  with  the 
article  within  my  reach. 

"  Your  Honors,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  the  state  would 
hold  me  responsible  for  the  consequences  of  drinking,  on  the 
ground  of  my  knowledge  of  them  beforehand.  This  seems 
specious.  Yet  my  experience  assures  me  that  the  madness 
does  not  begin  with  drinking,  but  with  the  causes  that  lead 


MOKE  WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE  LAW.        429 

to  it.  It  dates  from  personal  contact  with  alcohol,  accom- 
panied with  the  conciousness  of  the  option  to  drink  or  not 
drink.  My  wife  saw  the  state  of  the  case,  and  advised  me 
to  flee  to  a  country  where  society  had  not  yet  introduced  my 
enemy.  I  listened  to  her  advice,  and  brought  my  family  into 
this  then  wilderness  country.  For  a  few  years  we  lived  here 
in  security  and  peace.  We  prospered  in  the  world,  and  ac- 
quired a  competence.  But  the  state  then  located  one  of  its 
licensed  grog-shops  near  my  door.  I  guarded  against  the 
danger  for  months.  My  family  stood  sentinel  around  me," 
and,  as  he  said  this,  his  chin  quivered  and  the  tears  rolled 
down  his  manly  face.  "  I  fortified  myself  with  resolutions 
and  prayers,  knowing  that  my  life  and  that  of  my  family  were 
involved. 

"  But.  your  Honors  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  my  enemy 
subdued  my  strong-holds,  and  led  me  in  chains.  I  was  sur- 
prised into  the  trap  that  the  state  had  set  for  me, —  I  say  this 
in  no  spirit  of  recrimination, —  and  the  moment  I  was  there 
all  my  motives  to  virtue  perished.  I  was  occupied  with  an 
inward  feeling, —  call  it  what  you  please,  — that  absorbed  my 
whole  being.  Wife,  children,  reputation,  life,  were  nothing 
to  it.  Had  your  gallows  then  presented  itself  in  perspective, 
with  myself  hanging  upon  it  as  a  consequence  of  drinking,  it 
would  not  have  deterred  me.  That  was  the  beginning  of  my 
insanity ;  that  is  the  beginning  of  my  insanity  in  every  case. 
The  contact  is  the  conquest  of  my  enemy  over  me. 

"In  reference  to  the  crime  on  which  you  are  now  to  adjudi- 
cate, your  Honors  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  it  is  due  to  my- 
self and  family,  yea,  to  justice  and  the  public,  to  say  that  I  had 
for  months  kept  under  my  great  enemy,  till  a  new  acquaint- 
ance, from  no  good  motive,  brought  into  my  field,  from  our 
town  groggery,  a  bottle  of  brandy.  That  produced  the  mad- 


430  MAPLETON;    OB, 

ness  "which  fired  our  destructive  conflagration,  which  led  to 
the  death  of  our  worthy  pastor,  and  which  struck  my  own 
dear  son  dead  through  a  father's  hand  !  "  Here  again  his 
tears  fell,  and  his  utterance  was  slightly  obstructed ;  but  he 
soon  regained  his  wonted  composure.  ' '  On  my  return,  I  felt 
that  I  was  pursued  by  dreadful  creatures,  which  led  me  to 
arm  myself  with  the  lever ;  and,  as  I  approached  my  door,  I 
thought  I  saw  a  cluster  of  poisonous  serpents  all  intertwined, 
writhing,  hissing  and  darting  at  me,  when  I  dealt  at  them  a 
blow.  A  huge  monster  then  seemed  to  be  coming  at  me,  of 
the  crocodile  genus,  covered  with  great  scales,  with  fiery  eyes 
and  open  mouth,  to  swallow  me  up.  A  dreadful  terror  came 
over  me,  and,  to  protect  myself,  I  struck  my  lever  at  it  with 
all  my  might.  I  was  then  seized  by  giants  (I  give  my  own 
impressions),  and  verily  believed  the  hour  of  my  doom  had 
come.  My  fears  and  feelings  overpowered  me,  and  I  recol- 
lect no  more  till  the  next  morning.  When  I  came  to  myself, 
I  was  weak,  bruised,  and  felt  more  dead  than  alive.  Soon 
my  dear  wife  came,  and,  like  a  ministering  angel,  began  in 
her  quiet  way  to  soothe  my  feelings  and  alleviate  my  suffer- 
ings. I  said  to  her,  '  My  dear,  why  is  your  head  bound  up  7 ' 
'  Never  mind,'  she  said,  'you  are  sick,  and  we  must  take  care 
of  you.'  '  Call  the  boys  to  help  me  up,'  I  said.  My  wife 
stepped  out,  and  soon  returned  with  my  elder  son  George, 
when  I  asked,  (  Where  is  Samuel  7  '  She  waived  an  answer, 
and  I  had  not  the  remotest  idea  of  our  dear  Samuel's  death, 
till  the  sheriff  came  to  apprehend  me.  Then  I  saw  that  the 
love  of  those  to  whom  I  had  made  myself  most  unlovely  had 
drawn  a  veil  over  the  sad  event,  to  save  me  from  the  torments 
•which  I  have  since  endured,  and  which  a  hundred  deaths  on 
the  gallows  cannot  equal."  The  court  and  jurj  were  much 


MORE   WORK  FOR  THE  MAINE   LAW.  431 

moved  by  this  recital,  and  the  numerous  auditory  were  bathed 
in  tears. 

"  Think  not  that  I  detail  these  facts  to  screen  myself.  No, 
your  Honors  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  it  is  too  late  for  me 
to  hope  for  anything  this  side  of  death.  But,  in  justice  to 
the  state  and  its  legislators,  in  justice  to  the  executors  of  the 
law,  in  justice  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  the  source  of  law 
and  power,  in  justice  to  others  whose  misfortune  it  is  to  lose 
the  command  of  themselves  through  the  drinking  customs  of 
society,  yea,  as  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  truth,  the  last  I 
shall  ever  make  in  this  public  manner,  I  do  affirm  that  the 
state  of  mind  which  produced  what  your  laws  call  murder 
did  not  result,  in  my  case,  from  the  act  of  drinking,  but  from 
the  previous  steps  taken,  under  authority  of  the  state,  to 
insure  that  act.  It  resulted  from  the  licensed  hand  that  held 
the  cup  to  my  lips.  As  a  dying  man,  I  leave  this  my  true, 
my  faithful  testimony,  hoping  and  praying  that  it  may  lead 
to  more  just  views  on  this  subject,  and  to  a  final  withdrawal 
of  the  means  of  drinking  from  that  unhappy  class  to  whom  it 
is  an  unfailing  incentive  to  crime.  I  do  it  to  save  the  state 
from  the  inhumanity  of  first  instigating  the  crime,  and  then 
punishing  the  criminal." 

This  speech  thrilled  upon  the  audience  like  a  voice  from 
eternity.  The  judges  and  lawyers,  who  had  plead  earnestly 
against  the  constitutionality  of  the  Maine  Law,  felt  themselves 
in  an  awkward  position,  hanging  a  man  for  acting  out  the 
insanity  which  the  constitution  had  produced  within  him  !  It 
is  hard  to  convince  a  man  against  the  fixed  course  of  his  ideas. 
The  court,  therefore,  repressed  the  ^^constitutional  sympa- 
thy which  they  felt  rising  in  their  hearts. 

"  It  does  seem  rather  a  hard  constitution,"  said  one  judge 
to  another,  in  a  low  voice. 


432  MAPLETON ;     OR, 

"Yes,"  replied  the  other,  "but  constitutions  are  a  mere 
reflection  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  law  and  of  liberty. 
Whatever  the  constitution  is,  these,  I  take  it,  would  be  vio- 
lated, if  we  denied  a  man  the  privilege  of  buying  the  means 
to  get  drunk  when  he  pleased.  And  those  who  abuse  to  pur- 
poses of  crime  the  parental  care  of  the  state,  in  providing  for 
this  by  the  license  law,  we  have  only  to  imprison  or  hang." 

The  court  charged  according  to  the  sentiments  of  the  last 
judge.  But  the  jurors  said,  in  their  quaint  way  of  reasoning 
among  themselves,  that  they  thought  it  would  be  wrong  to 
hang  a  man  on  the  constitution  who  had  been  made  a  crimi- 
nal by  the  constitution.  Hence,  they  brought  in  a  verdict 
of  NOT  GUILTY.  Thus  the  afflicted  but  now  triumphant 
Douglass  was  "allowed  the  only  boon  he  had  to  ask  —  the 
privilege  of  dying  in  the  bosom  of  his  family ! 


FINIS 


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